City Council Panel Reviews Sex Case Against Gentile
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
As closed-door hearings continued yesterday in the misconduct case against City Council Member Allan Jennings, the council also began reviewing a sexual harassment charge against Council Member Vincent Gentile, a Brooklyn Democrat.
The four-member “fair intervention committee” met for the first time yesterday, but did not make any decisions or refer the case to the council’s larger Standards and Ethics Commitee, council spokesman, Stephen Sigmund said.
The council announced Tuesday that a sexual harassment complaint had been filed against a council member, but has not released names or details.
Sources, who declined to go on the record, said the case involved Mr. Gentile. The charges were filed by Mr. Gentile’s chief of staff, John Martin, who alleged that the council member made inappropriate remarks, including asking Mr. Martin to share a hotel room on a trip to Maine. It was unclear whether that trip was taken or whether it was related to business.
Mr. Gentile, 45, has denied knowing about the allegations, and denied that he was involved in anything inappropriate. According to published reports he has also denied being homosexual saying, “That’s been asked on several occasions and suggested that if you’re a man and single you must be gay. That’s absurd.”
Though several council members have expressed concern about how the latest controversy will bode for the legislative body, they have also defended Mr. Gentile, noting that the complaint is just an allegation and that the council member is a devoted elected official. Some have also expressed skepticism about the charges.
The council is going to great lengths to respond rapidly, a reaction that may be driven by the criticism Council Speaker Gifford Miller received for mishandling accusations against Mr. Jennings. Accusations in that case range from inappropriately firing an aide after she refused to go on a date with him to sharing details of his sex life with employee. Mr. Jennings denies the charges.
Mayor Bloomberg took a dig at the council yesterday for the way it handled the Jennings case, saying “hopefully they’ll do a better job this time.” But, he said the council was taking the appropriate steps by investigating because “everybody has a right to go to work without being harassed.”
