Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Your California Privacy Rights This story has been shared 57,103 times. The Ethics Committee also determined that King failed to abide by the sanctions and censure that his council colleagues imposed on him last year. The council easily mustered the two-thirds majority needed, voting 48-2 to boot King from his job representing the 12th District at City Hall. “Council member King’s behavior is unfixable and that if do not take the action recommended by the [ethics] committee, we are likely to be back here in a few months,” he added. Council member Andy King leaves City Hall after being suspended. 54,781, This story has been shared 39,750 times. “If you look at me as an n-word, then it doesn’t matter because it’s all about hurting me, it’s not about finding truths, it’s about hurting me,” he said at one point. King initially won the seat in the 2012 special election to replace former Councilman Larry Seabrook, who was forced out following his corruption conviction for steering $2 million to nonprofits that employed family members and friends. … Your California Privacy Rights The City Council overwhelmingly voted to expel Bronx member Andy King, in a 48-2 vote on Monday. He also misused city resources by ordering his staff to help his wife, Neva Shillingford-King, with her day job as a top executive at SEIU Local 1199 and to bolster her reputation. Visit the Council. The New York City Council’s ethics committee on Tuesday recommended that Bronx Councilman Andy King be expelled from office, citing investigations that found he … For the first time in decades, the City Council voted to expel one of its own on Monday — Bronx Councilman Andy King, who was accused of sexual harassment and misusing Council resources. Christmas Eve was the 15th ‘Sharing is Caring Day’ for the Wakefield community and fifteen soldiers from the area. Andy King is a former Democratic District 12 representative on the New York City Council in New York.He represented District 12 from 2012 to 2020. In September 2017, the unidentified staffer, who suffers from polycystic ovarian syndrome, told King she needed to go to the hospital because she had been struggling with menstrual bleeding for more than a month. Thanks for contacting us. The councilman replied, “Oh, OK,” according to the report. Mr. King offered a lengthy defense during the hearing, arguing that he was targeted by investigators for political reasons and because he is a Black man. Posted on September 29, 2020 City Councilman Andy King, of the Bronx, was charged with harassment by the Committee on Standards and Ethics, chairman and Minority Leader Steven Matteo said in 2019. King, who was at a Bronx restaurant to interview a DJ, told her to “put a Band-Aid on it” and laughed, according to the report. “I’ve heard no contrition from Councilman King at all, ever, for any of his conduct,” said Costa Constantinides, a councilman from Queens. N.Y. City Council Votes to Expel One of Its Own for 1st Time in Memory. We've received your submission. He told another staff member, who had to go to the emergency room for menstrual bleeding, to “put a Band-Aid on it.”. Mr. Johnson’s office said it believed the expulsion was the first decided by a Council vote in the city’s history. 250 Broadway, Room 1774 New York, NY 10007 Tel: 212-788-6873 Fax: 212-788-8954 The Ethics Committee ordered him to take a sensitivity course that cost city taxpayers $3,500. Andy King, a Bronx Democrat, was voted out after facing three ethics inquiries. He finally lost his job on Monday. 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All Rights Reserved, COVID-19 outbreak at NYC Board of Elections offices could affect Bronx race, Staffer sues ex-NYC pol for telling her to put 'Band-Aid' on vaginal bleeding, Special election set for ousted Bronx Councilman's seat, Good riddance to Andy King and his bogus 'racism' defense, first sanctioned by the Ethics Committee in 2018, Death of NYC's most beloved restaurants puts landlords in danger, NYC office towers welcome workers back with new tech, toilet protocols, eBay takes $600 off luxury watches for limited-time deal, Where to buy new KF94 masks online to protect yourself from COVID-19, Sur La Table flash sale takes 20 percent off best-selling cookware, This folding treadmill will get you in shape at home, 10 best women’s loungewear sets that are as cute as they are comfortable. A two-thirds vote is required to expel a City Council member, something that has not happened since the City Charter was revised in 1989. Previously, Bronx Council Member Andy King was expelled for repeated ethics violations and a special election to replace him was held in December. “I ask us not to be the Council that does that,” Mr. King said. The Council voted 44-1 last year to suspend Mr. King for 30 days without pay and to fine him. The motion to expel was opposed only by King and one of his Bronx colleagues, Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. King’s name was immediately removed and his name was taken off the City Council’s website. The Council’s ethics committee found last week that the latest allegations against Mr. King were substantiated and recommended his expulsion. The New York City Council voted to suspend Councilman Andy King from his seat for 30 days over allegations he violated its anti-harassment policy, … And he was accused of pocketing $2,000 in cash from a payout to a third staff member and refusing to pay a $15,000 fine imposed by the City Council. The City Council’s ethics committee took the extraordinary... Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Known for his bow ties and colorful clothes, King is facing some serious penalties for alleged misdeeds, including harassing employees and misusing public funds. The Council’s decision was of “unprecedented severity in comparison to similarly situated Council members who have also not been convicted of a criminal offense,” the complaint said. Several Council members lamented the hostile work environment that Mr. King created, and his treatment of women. The New York City Council voted overwhelmingly Monday to expel Bronx lawmaker Andy King after the Democrat was hit by a third set of ethics charges, saying he once again misused government funds and mistreated his staff. First elected in 2012, King won a new term in the general election on November 7, 2017.On October 5, 2020, King was expelled by the council due to several ethics charges against him. Who is Brittany Galvin, 'The Bachelor' woman accused of being an escort? Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Thursday, October 8, 2020 NEW YORK (WABC) -- A special election will be held to replace former New York City Councilman Andy King, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Thursday. Mr. King said he had given a few staff members a bonus — a common practice in the Council — and was traveling in the Virgin Islands when the staff member first claimed to give him the cash. In his first ethics investigation in 2018, Mr. King was ordered to undergo sensitivity and ethics training after a female staff member lodged a sexual harassment claim against him. King was first sanctioned by the Ethics Committee in 2018 for paying “unwanted attention” to a female staffer. Mr. King also failed to pay the fine imposed by the Council last year. King responded with a rambling, half-hour speech that included accusations that his fellow council members had mounted a years-long, racially tinged campaign to boot him from office. Council Members each have an office at 250 Broadway, as well as offices in each of their districts. Mr. King filed a lawsuit against the city in federal court on Monday afternoon, claiming race discrimination and arguing that his expulsion was “arbitrary and capricious.”. He said the Council had never expelled someone for behavior that was not a crime. Mr. King refused to cooperate with the investigation and sought to thwart it by threatening and firing staff members who he believed were cooperating, the ethics committee found. Danica Patrick is going back to her NFC North roots... Strike three! The Ethics Committee also found that King used his power to grant one-time payments to members of his staff to engineer a kickback scheme. He faces a 30 … October 5, 2020 | 3:15pm | Updated October 5, 2020 | 5:22pm. Council voted 44-1 last year to suspend Mr. King. The councilman, Andy King, a Democrat from the Bronx, has long been accused of misbehavior, leading to three ethics investigations by the Council. In July 2019, King called an unidentified staffer, identified as Staffer-2, into his office and told the employee that he would receive “something extra” in his paycheck — and that the staffer would need to give him $2,000 of that extra payment. Investigators had found that Mr. King used Council funds to plan a retreat in the Virgin Islands that coincided with the wedding of his wife’s daughter. The councilman, Andy King, a Democrat from the Bronx, has long been accused of misbehavior, leading to three ethics investigations by the … On Monday, Mr. King offered a spirited defense against the charges, saying that he had heard the staff member say she was bleeding at a chaotic work event, but he did not see her gesture toward her genital area. Your Ad Choices The vote was 48-2, with one of the no votes cast by Mr. King. “Councilman King’s behavior is unfixable,” Corey Johnson, the Council speaker, said at a video hearing held over Zoom. “Don’t forget, here’s the money,” the staffer told King. He could not seek a third term in 2021 under term limits. Terms of Use A few weeks later, King forced the staffer to take unpaid medical leave that she did not seek and then refused to allow her to return to work — eventually forcing her to resign her position. “All reasonable alternatives have been exhausted and drastic action is now our only option,” said Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who described the latest set of allegations against King “as conduct disqualifying from public office.”. The staffer took the cash to King’s home on Aug. 16 and left it on a piece of furniture. The New York City Council voted Monday to expel councilman Andy King over years of harassment allegations against him. The committee overseeing the investigation voted overwhelmingly for his expulsion due to being considered unreformable. As Councilman Andy King is facing expulsion for numerous violations, his lawyer addressed the media Friday, where he denied all allegations against the councilman. We're located at New York City Hall. New York City Councilman Andy King’s history of unethical alleged actions goes back further than those covered by the recent investigation that may result in his suspension from the Council. The report revealed that he failed to pay the $15,000 fine, did not take the required remedial education, mistreated the independent monitor placed in his office to help protect his staffers from further mistreatment and continued to retaliate against staffers he believed testified against him in the two prior probes. The $9,500 one-time payment netted the staffer $5,500 after taxes. City Council District 12 in the northeast Bronx has been without representation since October, when Andy King was expelled. New York City Councilman Andy King could be the first lawmaker in recent memory to be temporarily suspended from the City Council, pending a vote next week. An attorney for King quickly filed suit challenging the Council’s move in Manhattan federal court. Mr. King faced four charges in the latest Council investigation: harassment and discrimination, conflicts of interest, disorderly conduct and violating rules the Council had set for him. Andy King addresses the harassment allegations made against him in a candid one-on-one interview with NBC New York’s Checkey Beckford. He said that he was trying to negotiate how to pay the $15,000 fine, but that he felt he should get a credit for the pay he had lost during his suspension. We want to hear from you. “We have a duty to believe women,” Mr. Kallos said. King could not seek a third term in 2021 under term limits. That District 12 election saw Kevin Riley emerged victorious with 68% of the vote, beating Pamela Hamilton-Johnson (24%) and Neville Mitchell (3.2%). King now holds the ignominious distinction of being the first city politician booted from the lawmaking body in modern history without first being convicted of a crime. It’s the latest episode in at least a three-year saga of misbehavior by King, records show. When a staff member told Mr. King in September 2017 that she needed to go to the emergency room for menstrual bleeding, Mr. King made the Band-Aid comment and laughed, according to a 68-page report by the ethics committee. He’s a king in name only. “It was always an assassination — a character assassination — against a councilman who stands up for his community,” Mr. Jackson said of the investigation. © Luiz C. Ribeiro New York Councilman Andy King is pictured outside the 216 Deli in the Bronx in this file photo. The New York City Council is moving to expel one of its own, Bronx councilman Andy King, after a lengthy investigation into multiple allegations. Other members have been automatically ousted when they were convicted of criminal charges. Riley faced Pamela Hamilton-Johnson and public defender Neville Mitchell in the District 12 special election. The City Council’s ethics committee last week had substantiated allegations made against Councilman Andy King, and had recommended his expulsion. Those sanctions were imposed on King by the council after the Ethics Committee issued a damning report in October 2019 about his behavior, including repeated allegations of misusing government resources and mistreating his staff. A special election will be scheduled to replace Mr. King. BronxTalk: Councilman Andy King Following a fine, a suspension from the city council, and removal from all committees, Councilman Andy King along with his attorney sit down exclusively with Gary Axelbank to discuss these recent events. The City Charter requires Mayor Bill de Blasio to schedule a special election between Dec. 19 and Jan. 8 to fill his seat, according to council sources. Monday, October 5, 2020 NEW YORK (WABC) -- The New York City Council voted 48-2 Monday to expel Councilman Andy King, likely the first time … Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to schedule the special election within three days of the vacancy, and it is typically held at least 80 days later, which would fall in late December. Mr. King was also accused of giving another staff member an extra payment of $9,500 in 2019 and forcing the staff member to give him back $2,000 in cash. King and his wife, Neva Shillingford-King are the founders of the Bronx Youth Empowerment Program (YEP). The panel’s members unanimously backed new charges last week that King engineered a kickback scheme with a staffer that netted him $2,000 in government funds and punished a sick female staffer for seeking medical treatment, issuing a sometimes graphic 55-page report that detailed the evidence. Mr. King’s lawyer, Joey Jackson, said at a news conference on Friday that investigators were out to get Mr. King, ignoring what he said was a history of good deeds for his Bronx constituents. Several Council members expressed regret that they had not removed him sooner. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The City Council voted to oust Mr. King in a stunning rebuke that was believed to be the first time in the city’s history that a Council member was expelled in a vote by colleagues. The staffer then made two cash withdrawals of $5,000 over two days in August from his Co-Op City banking branch to give King the money he demanded. New York City Councilman Andy King spoke on Oct. 28, 2019, before the New York City Council voted to suspend him for 30 days. Legislative Office. Andy King District 12 - Council Member 940 East Gun Hill Road The Bronx, NY 10467 Phone: (718) 684-5509 Website for Andy King; James Vacca District 13 - Council Member 3040 East Tremont Ave Room 104 The Bronx, NY 10461 Phone: 718-931-1721 Fax: 718-931-1605 Website for James Vacca; Ritchie Torres District 15 – Council Member 573 East Fordham Road Sitemap King at one point attempted to have his attorney speak on his behalf as he appeared to attempt a filibuster of the proceedings, only to be swiftly admonished by Johnson. This state may have its own highly contagious homegrown COVID strain, Bridget Moynahan reacts to ex Tom Brady clinching Super Bowl 2021 berth. 57,103, This story has been shared 54,781 times. With your insight, the Council discovers ways to improve the City we all call home. In a stunning and unprecedented move, the City Council expelled Councilman Andy King from office today. A motion to expel him was defeated, 34-12. “There were no kickback schemes involved at all,” Mr. King said. Ben Kallos, a councilman from Manhattan, said he wished he had voted to expel Mr. King last year. Andy King is the former Council Member for the 12th District of the New York City Council, which includes the Baychester, Co-op City, Edenwald, Eastchester, Wakefield, and Williamsbridge sections of The Bronx. He was voted out in an overwhelming majority of 48 “yes” votes to 2 “no” votes. 39,750, © 2021 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved Council member Andy King angrily pleads his case against charges of misconduct. Your blog can not share posts by email, the City Council voted 44-1 last year Monday. Fine him Manhattan federal court I ask us not to be the Council ’ the... Bronx Council Member Andy King over years of complaints, Councilman Andy King ’ s on... Of complaints, Councilman Andy King 's Facebook Page, Neva Shillingford-King are the founders the. 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