City Council Expels Bronx Lawmaker Andy King
Disgraced pol fi nally booted after years of harassment, retaliation, homophobia
BY MATT TRACY
Bronx lawmaker Andy
King was kicked out of
the New York City Council
by his colleagues in
a lopsided vote on October 5, concluding
years of punishments and
allegations that he sexually harassed
and retaliated against his
staff, sought illegal payouts, and
compared LGBTQ Pride to pedophilia,
among other charges.
King was expelled from the city’s
lawmaking body by a 48-2 margin
after all but one of his colleagues
— Ruben Diaz, Sr. — opted to remove
the disgraced politician from
offi ce. There were no abstentions
and King was the only other “no”
vote.
The full Council vote came a
week after the Committee on Standards
and Ethics unanimously advanced
four fresh charges that included
accusations that King failed
to pay the $15,000 fi ne ordered by
the Council last year, ignored other
terms of the punishment handed
down to him, retaliated against his
staff, and took $2,000 from an employee
who landed a payout.
Among the accusations lodged
against King included a 2017 incident
during which he allegedly
laughed at an aide who said she
needed to go to the emergency
room for menstrual bleeding and
told her to “put a Band-Aid on it.”
The charges cover just some
of King’s alleged actions over the
years, which also include blatant
homophobia. The Ethics Committee’s
report last year said King once
said that LGBTQ Pride was “the
same as child pornography” and
told his aide he did not “approve of
➤ TOWNSEND FOR CABÁN, from p.10
Party, which has since endorsed
her bid for City Council.
Cabán is again bringing forth a
similar platform to her campaign
for City Council. She is focused on
eradicating the carceral system,
introducing a Green New Deal to
New York City, and establishing a
Ousted Bronx Councilmember Andy King once said LGBTQ Pride was “the same as child pornography.”
this behavior.”
King defended himself ahead of
the full council vote that ultimately
sealed his fate, arguing that he
was a victim who was “dragged
through the mud.” He accused
others of targeting him based on
race and, according to the New
York Times, sued the city in federal
court on the same day and claimed
in the lawsuit that he faced racial
discrimination.
The ousted lawmaker’s job was
already in jeopardy last year following
the emergence of the Ethics
Committee’s explosive investigation
that prompted out gay Queens
Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer
care economy, among other policies.
She is emphasizing her desire
to see the city divest from police resources
and instead invest in holistic
policies geared toward public
health initiatives.
The former DA hopeful has already
accumulated a series of
critical endorsements early in
her campaign for city offi ce: Prior
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL/ EMIL COHEN
to initiate a motion to expel him,
though that vote failed by a 34-12
margin.
Instead, the City Council suspended
King for 30 days, hit him
with a fi ne, stripped him of his
committee assignments, and appointed
a monitor tasked with
overseeing him for the rest of his
term in offi ce.
This time around, his colleagues
concluded that he failed to make
amends after they gave him another
opportunity. Out gay City
Council Speaker Corey Johnson,
who called on King to resign last
year, described the lawmaker as
“unfi xable” in a clear indication
to receiving Townsend’s support,
Cabán landed the backing
of current elected offi cials like out
gay City Councilmember Jimmy
Van Bramer of Queens as well as
Queens State Senators Jessica Ramos
and Mike Gianaris.
Cabán has also received the support
of a labor coalition called Road
to Justice NYC, which features
POLITICS
that he had no other choice but to
lead the Council in booting one of
their own.
Van Bramer, meanwhile, issued
a written statement detailing numerous
allegations against King
and said his colleagues should
have acted sooner to remove him.
“Knowing all this, this body
failed a test of leadership when it
was clearly needed,” Van Bramer
said, referring back to the vote
he initiated last year. “When the
staff of the Council looked to councilmembers
to use our power to
protect them. We failed miserably.
Instead, this body voted to punish
and merely monitor him… There
are no excuses. Just an abdication
of leadership.”
Manhattan City Councilmember
Carlina Rivera, who voted against
expelling King last year, apologized
for casting that vote and said she
regretted that decision after speaking
with King’s staff members.
“This ugly chapter in the Council’s
history has demonstrated that
the process by which we attempt to
protect our workers is broken, and
it is time to correct this mistake,”
Rivera said in a written statement
on October 5. “We must address
the failures in our process for reporting
and adjudicating misconduct
which enable corruption and
abuse to persist, and our failure to
act continues to hurt our employees
and our constituents. It must
end.”
King’s departure now leaves an
empty seat in District 12, which
encompasses Eastchester, Wakefi
eld, Williamsbridge, Co-Op City,
Edenwald, and Baychester. A
special election will eventually be
scheduled to replace him.
Make the Road Action, 1199SEIU,
and Community Voices Heard.
Others who have fi led to run
in District 22 include Jaime-Faye
Bean, Leonardo Bullaro, Jesse
A. Cerrotti, Edwin DeJesus, Evie
Hantzopoulos, Felicia Kalan, and
Nicholas Roloson, according to the
New York City Campaign Finance
Board.
GayCityNews.com | October 8 - October 22, 2020 11
/GayCityNews.com
