Jennings Abuse Case Findings Are Released
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.

The City Council released a report last night detailing the charges and findings in the long-running sexual misconduct case against Council Member Allan Jennings.
The 104-page report, which follows 26 hearings and nearly 104 hours of testimony, provides the first real window into a council tribunal that has ensued for months behind closed doors in a building across the street from City Hall.
Mr. Jennings, a Democrat who represents parts of Queens, was accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior by five separate women who cited dozens of examples.
Two of the women, both under his employ, claimed that when they were in his car together the council member would make abrupt stops so that he could grab their breasts and legs. One woman said Mr. Jennings had grabbed her during a birthday party at her home shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer and pressed his erect penis against her back. His employees also accused him of making lewd remarks and of forcing them do his personal chores.
The council’s Standards and Ethics Committee substantiated two of the women’s claims. Committee members found that Mr. Jennings created a hostile work environment for them based on a host of factors. They also found that he improperly fired one of the women after she filed a complaint against him.
The committee deemed that charges filed by the three other women were not breaches of the city charter or council policy.
The release of the report comes a day after the committee voted to recommend that the full council suspend Mr. Jennings from his committee assignments and fine him $5,000. It also voted to require him to attend anger management classes and sensitivity training and to monitor his staff to ensure a safe working environment.
The case has been a source of embarrassment for the council and has cast a shadow on the speaker of the body, Gifford Miller, who was blamed for lagging in his response to complaints from the first women who came forward.
Yesterday Mr. Miller praised the committee’s recommendations and said he had “zero tolerance” for misconduct.
“These are the most serious, toughest, and unprecedented penalties ever against a council member in the history of this body and that’s appropriate given that the conduct that he was found guilty of is utterly unacceptable,” Mr. Miller said during a news conference.
Council sources said Mr. Miller urged his colleagues during a caucus meeting yesterday to approve the package of recommendations when they meet to vote on April 20.
Meanwhile, during a news conference in his Queens office, Mr. Jennings said the timing of the findings, just before his re-election, was meant to damage his prospects with voters.
His lawyer, Robert Ellis, said stripping him of his committee positions was “institutionally racist” because it would deny a largely minority community a voice on issues the come before the council. Mr. Jennings said he would appeal to the courts if the council adopts the penalties.
Mr. Ellis labeled the process “anti-constitutional,” saying that the committee denied Mr. Jennings access to certain documents and did not allow all witnesses to be fully cross-examined.
“Given that he was acquitted of 50% of the charges I would think that a private reprimand would have been in order,” Mr. Ellis said during a phone interview. “But even that is problematic, because the integrity of the result is tied to the process and the process was not full and fair.”
Mr. Jennings has, in the past, made headlines for all sorts of atypical behavior.
In 2003, he took out an advertisement in two Chinese-language newspapers declaring his love for his girlfriend and criticizing his estranged wife’s family. And in January he threw a piece of metal at a television reporter who showed up at his home to interview him.
Yesterday, he criticized Mr. Miller, who is campaigning for the Democratic Party’s nomination to run against Mayor Bloomberg, for failing to control press leaks.
The council’s majority leader, Joel Rivera, who is a member of the ethics committee, told The New York Sun he believed “the punishment fit the crime.”
Council Member David Yassky said he had not decided whether he would vote in favor of the recommended penalties, but that he had concerns about the council is taking responsibility for policing behavior.
“I think the cleanest and the most appropriate response is a censure and a full report of the facts of Jennings’s conduct,” Mr. Yassky said. He noted, however, that he would review the report.

