PhotoAn upstate assemblyman was disciplined for sexual harassment on Wednesday, after an investigation by the Assembly’s ethics committee found he had asked a female Assembly staff member for naked pictures. The sanctions on the assemblyman, Steven T. McLaughlin, include forbidding him to employ interns, and an official statement of admonition from the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie. The ethics committee also determined that he leaked the name of his accuser, in violation of instructions he had received that the victim’s name and incident remain confidential. “The Assembly has zero tolerance for sexual harassment, discrimination or retaliation,” Aravella Simotas, the chair of the Assembly’s bipartisan committee on ethics and guidance, said in an emailed statement. But in an appearance on Talk 1300 radio on Wednesday, he vehemently denied the sexual harassment ever occurred, and said he did not leak the victim’s name.

Source: New York Times November 29, 2017 22:41 UTC