ALBANY—The bipartisan Assembly Ethics Committee on Wednesday admonished an outgoing Republican assemblyman over workplace harassment stemming from allegations that he asked a female Assembly employee for nude photos.

Republican Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, the recently elected Rensselaer County executive, is barred from having interns work in his office after the ethics committee found that he violated the Assembly's harassment, discrimination and retaliation policy, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat from the Bronx, said in a letter released Wednesday.

During a radio interview Wednesday morning, McLaughlin said the report from the Assembly's Ethics Committee was part of a “political witch hunt.”

“The Ethics Committee is using their so-called ethics as a political weapon. It didn't happen to begin with. I proved it. I get a letter saying there was no finding of harassment,” McLaughlin said on WGDJ-AM, an upstate radio show. McLaughlin said he “never retaliated” and “never revealed the name” of his accuser.

According to the letter sent from Heastie to McLaughlin, the Assembly's Ethics Committee and its independent counsel investigated a complaint filed by an unnamed female Assembly staffer, but in June the committee was “split 4-4 on whether there was sufficient evidence to demonstrate that a violation of the [sexual harassment] policy was committed by the member as alleged in the complaint.”

The ethics panel recommended sensitivity training for McLaughlin, and asked Heastie to keep the committee's initial findings private. The ethics committee reopened the investigation when an Assembly GOP staffer reported to outside independent counsel Merrick Rossein—a City University of New York law professor who helped draft Albany's policies surrounding harassment—that the name of the alleged victim of the sexual harassment had been leaked, according to a letter the ethics committee sent Heastie.

“There was evidence that Assembly member McLaughlin had revealed the existence and details of the allegations to an Assembly employee who had then spread the information elsewhere. The evidence also showed that Assembly member McLaughlin had made these disclosures before he was informed by the Ethics Committee of the name of the alleged target and the details of the allegations, thus undermining his claim during the initial McLaughlin investigation that he had no idea who would make such claims against him,” the letter from the committee to the Assembly speaker said.

“The Ethics Committee finds that Assembly member McLaughlin revealed information about the nature of the complaint, the name of the complainant, and the results of the Initial McLaughlin investigation to his confidant and former employee, who is currently an Assembly minority conference employee,” the letter said. “This employee then revealed the information to two other Assembly minority conference employees, and later discussed it with another person (who is not an Assembly employee) and a high-level Senate staffer.”

In the radio interview Wednesday, McLaughlin said he'd written a letter to Albany County District Attorney David Soares about the ethics committee violating his civil rights.

“I'm not just going to roll over and take this. If anyone's got to go to a hostile workplace right now, I think it's me. This is really getting out of hand,” McLaughlin said on the radio.

This isn't the first time harassment allegations have been levied against the Rensselaer County Republican. In September, amid his campaign for county executive, an aide to McLaughlin accused the assemblyman of physically harming her.

The Albany Times Union obtained a recording of the altercation, in which a female legislative staffer claims that McLaughlin made disparaging comments toward her and harmed her. McLaughlin emphatically denied putting his hands on the staffer and she later recanted her statement that McLaughlin physically harmed her.

The admonition against McLaughlin follows a slew of harassment complaints against lawmakers that have plagued the state capital, which include secret settlements and nondisclosure agreements.

New York

ALBANY—The bipartisan Assembly Ethics Committee on Wednesday admonished an outgoing Republican assemblyman over workplace harassment stemming from allegations that he asked a female Assembly employee for nude photos.

Republican Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, the recently elected Rensselaer County executive, is barred from having interns work in his office after the ethics committee found that he violated the Assembly's harassment, discrimination and retaliation policy, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat from the Bronx, said in a letter released Wednesday.

During a radio interview Wednesday morning, McLaughlin said the report from the Assembly's Ethics Committee was part of a “political witch hunt.”

“The Ethics Committee is using their so-called ethics as a political weapon. It didn't happen to begin with. I proved it. I get a letter saying there was no finding of harassment,” McLaughlin said on WGDJ-AM, an upstate radio show. McLaughlin said he “never retaliated” and “never revealed the name” of his accuser.

According to the letter sent from Heastie to McLaughlin, the Assembly's Ethics Committee and its independent counsel investigated a complaint filed by an unnamed female Assembly staffer, but in June the committee was “split 4-4 on whether there was sufficient evidence to demonstrate that a violation of the [sexual harassment] policy was committed by the member as alleged in the complaint.”

The ethics panel recommended sensitivity training for McLaughlin, and asked Heastie to keep the committee's initial findings private. The ethics committee reopened the investigation when an Assembly GOP staffer reported to outside independent counsel Merrick Rossein—a City University of New York law professor who helped draft Albany's policies surrounding harassment—that the name of the alleged victim of the sexual harassment had been leaked, according to a letter the ethics committee sent Heastie.

“There was evidence that Assembly member McLaughlin had revealed the existence and details of the allegations to an Assembly employee who had then spread the information elsewhere. The evidence also showed that Assembly member McLaughlin had made these disclosures before he was informed by the Ethics Committee of the name of the alleged target and the details of the allegations, thus undermining his claim during the initial McLaughlin investigation that he had no idea who would make such claims against him,” the letter from the committee to the Assembly speaker said.

“The Ethics Committee finds that Assembly member McLaughlin revealed information about the nature of the complaint, the name of the complainant, and the results of the Initial McLaughlin investigation to his confidant and former employee, who is currently an Assembly minority conference employee,” the letter said. “This employee then revealed the information to two other Assembly minority conference employees, and later discussed it with another person (who is not an Assembly employee) and a high-level Senate staffer.”

In the radio interview Wednesday, McLaughlin said he'd written a letter to Albany County District Attorney David Soares about the ethics committee violating his civil rights.

“I'm not just going to roll over and take this. If anyone's got to go to a hostile workplace right now, I think it's me. This is really getting out of hand,” McLaughlin said on the radio.

This isn't the first time harassment allegations have been levied against the Rensselaer County Republican. In September, amid his campaign for county executive, an aide to McLaughlin accused the assemblyman of physically harming her.

The Albany Times Union obtained a recording of the altercation, in which a female legislative staffer claims that McLaughlin made disparaging comments toward her and harmed her. McLaughlin emphatically denied putting his hands on the staffer and she later recanted her statement that McLaughlin physically harmed her.

The admonition against McLaughlin follows a slew of harassment complaints against lawmakers that have plagued the state capital, which include secret settlements and nondisclosure agreements.