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Jennings could face charge after spilling info to paper

By Courtney Dentch

Jennings went to the Daily News with the documents to clear the air and his name, he said in an article printed in Sunday's paper.

The documents contain the complaints from five women – including their names and addresses – who allege Jennings (D-Jamaica) sexually harassed or threatened them and were to be kept confidential to protect Jennings' privacy as well as the complainants, the Council official said. Council members are barred from releasing confidential papers, according to the City Charter.

“We feel it was completely inappropriate for the councilman to release confidential documents such as these,” said Paul Rose, a spokesman for the City Council.

Jennings has repeatedly refused to talk to the TimesLedger Newspapers on this and other topics because of the paper's coverage of the allegations, including editorial opinion pieces and cartoons. He did not return calls to his office seeking comment.

The Council's Ethics and Standards Committee has been investigating the allegations against Jennings since late last year. He has been charged by the committee with five counts – including creating a hostile work environment for aides and a City Council lawyer, firing two aides without cause and threatening Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez (D-Brooklyn). An evidentiary hearing was scheduled for August to allow Jennings to respond to the charges before the committee.

“We plan to go ahead with the hearing Aug. 10,” Rose said.

If the committee finds cause for disciplinary action, the full Council could vote on actions ranging from censure to expulsion.

The committee investigation, including a report compiled by an independent mediation consultant, is supposed to be kept private but leaks to media outlets have brought the case into the public eye. Jennings has asked for the Aug. 10 hearing to be open to the public rather than held behind closed doors, the Daily News reported.

The councilman responded to the allegations against him on a case-by-case basis in the News story:

– Saphora Lifrak, a lawyer for the Civil Service and Labor Committee when Jennings chaired the panel, says the councilman made crude sexual and anti-Semitic remarks and discussed his sexual preferences with her, the News reported. Her name was made public when she filed a civil suit against Council Speaker Gifford Miller (D-Manhattan) and Ethics Committee Chairwoman Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights), charging they did not promptly address her complaints about Jennings.

Jennings told the News his conversations with Lifrak are protected by attorney-client privilege and that he “never asked for anything sexual or discussed anything sexual” with her.

– A former staff member at Jennings' City Hall office alleges she was fired after an intermediary told her the councilman wanted to date her and she said it would be inappropriate, the News said.

Jennings says it did not happen.

– Another aide claims she was regularly required to chauffeur Jennings around and that when he drove he would stop short and reach his arm across her chest on the pretense of preventing her from falling forward and touch her breasts, the News reported. She also said the lawmaker cut her salary when she refused his sexual advances and fired her after she e-mailed Miller her complaints, the article said.

Jennings responded that she and another woman collaborated on their complaints because they were fired for poor job performance, the News said.

– A third aide said Jennings made her do chores for him, including cleaning his house and taking out his garbage, the News said. One morning when she was doing dishes Jennings allegedly grabbed her from behind dressed only in a T-shirt and boxers, the News reported. When she rebuffed his request to go into the bedroom he said, “that's why I can't deal with black women,” the story said.

Jennings told the News the complaint is not true and that she was fired for poor work performance and that at the time she was about 60 and he was 35, making it “difficult to give credibility to sexual harassment charges.”

– Councilwoman Gonzalez alleges Jennings approached her after a hearing where she voted to strip him of his committee chairmanship and read a Bible passage to her in a manner she perceived as threatening, the News reported.

Jennings responded that he read it to her to “reach her conscience” and that the Bible is not a “personal threat to anyone.”

Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.