Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is taking the heat for not moving quickly enough to report allegations of sexual harassment against a legislator — who happens to be one of Silver’s sharpest critics, sources say.
State ethics regulators slapped the Assembly with subpoenas Wednesday for records of harassment allegations leveled against Assemblyman Micah Kellner in 2008.
A top Assembly lawyer, Bill Collins, was forced to quit earlier this year after it was disclosed that he didn’t forward the allegations to authorities.
Ironically, sources say, Kellner has been privately criticizing Silver, and their relationship is so strained, Kellner is now looking to escape Albany.
“One of the reasons [Kellner] is running for City Council is to get away from Shelly,” said an insider.
Kellner, who was accused of hitting on a female assistant, has apologized for what he described as flirting.
Women’s groups are demanding Silver pass a package of bills that include new measures against sexual harassment. They are also asking that Silver pass a bill to ban confidential settlements like the kind he allowed in the case of ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez.
“We expect JCOPE [the ethics panel] will conduct a full investigation that identifies how and when the Assembly leadership failed to take sexual harassment seriously and how it failed to follow their own protocol on handling these cases,” said Sonia Ossorio, president of the National Organization for Women NYC.
“The pervasive culture of tolerance for sexual harassment in the Assembly must be addressed.”