Other female aides to Dennis Gabryszak complained about his constantly suggestive commentary.
Trina Tardone is the first to say he forced himself on her when they were alone in Albany.
“The assemblyman grabbed her and tried to kiss her,” Tardone’s lawyer writes in the latest notice of claim drawn up against the assemblyman and the Assembly.
Tardone broke away, according to the document. She grabbed her briefcase and purse and stated she would find a way to work with him, the legal notice says, but she would not be alone with him in any situation.
Gabryszak’s response: He would no longer support her job-required travel to Albany.
Tardone served as his communications director from July 2009 to December 2010, one of a string of women to hold that post since Gabryszak took office seven years ago.
Emily C. Trimper was Gabryszak’s district office administrator from August 2007 through March 2008.
Together they have collaborated on a new notice of claim against Gabryszak and the Assembly, making them the fifth and sixth women to publicly accuse the assemblyman of sexual harassment.
Gabryszak, a Democrat living in Depew, has uttered no word about the complaints since they broke onto the Albany scene in the week leading up to Christmas. His lawyer has silenced him pending an investigation by the Assembly’s Ethics and Guidance Committee.
Speculation has grown in Albany that Gabryszak will resign before the 2014 legislative session formally begins with Wednesday’s State of the State address by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo with the first full day of session on Jan. 13. But Gabryszak’s lawyer, Terrence M. Connors of Buffalo, offered no suggestion that Gabryszak will leave office before the ethics panel hears his case.
Several Albany Democrats urged Gabryszak to resign if the allegations are true. Among them is Cuomo, who raised the volume in recent days by saying Gabryszak should either deny the allegations publicly or resign. If he doesn’t resign, the Assembly should expel him, the governor said.
“The latest reports of sexual harassment in the Assembly should be the last straw,” Cuomo said in a statement Tuesday. “This pattern of behavior is repugnant by every standard and directly contradicts the policies the Assembly has advanced for the last 20 years.”
Like the first four women to complain about Gabryszak, Trimper was in her 20s when she began working for him in 2007. Like the others, she says he made the workplace uncomfortable.
According to the legal notice: He referred to the Cinemax channel as “Skin-A-Max” because of the risque programs he would find there. He hung photos of women’s belly buttons in his office. He would lean over her and invade her personal space. He offered use of his Albany apartment if she needed a place to stay while in the capital.
Tardone, unlike the others, was not in her 20s. She was 48 and Gabryszak was 57 when, according to the notice, he started making advances in her first week of employment in the summer of 2009.
When she arrived in Albany he met her at her hotel and insisted he go with her to her room to ensure that it was acceptable. They were expected at a dinner, and Tardone asked Gabryszak to leave the room so she could change. Instead, he took off his jacket, sat on the bed and started watching television, according to the legal document. Tardone took her clothes into the bathroom to dress privately.
Gabryszak often suggested she stay at his apartment while in Albany, she claims. According to the notice, she resisted by telling him it would be inappropriate. But she was at his apartment one day in 2009 because she had to review some documents he had there. That’s when he tried to kiss her, according to the notice.
After being spurned, Gabryszak became hostile toward Tardone and told her she “worked at his pleasure and that if she didn’t do what he asked, including traveling with him and attending dinners and social events with him, that she would be let go,” the notice says.
The document goes on to say that Tardone used her own salary – Assembly records put it at about $34,000 a year – to pay for her travel and lodging whenever she was required in Albany.
Like many of the other women now complaining publicly about Gabryszak, she says she went to his chief of staff, Adam Locher.
Locher’s response, according to the notice, was to “just ignore it, that is the way Dennis is.’’
email: mspina@buffnews.com and tprecious@buffnews.com
Trina Tardone is the first to say he forced himself on her when they were alone in Albany.
“The assemblyman grabbed her and tried to kiss her,” Tardone’s lawyer writes in the latest notice of claim drawn up against the assemblyman and the Assembly.
Tardone broke away, according to the document. She grabbed her briefcase and purse and stated she would find a way to work with him, the legal notice says, but she would not be alone with him in any situation.
Gabryszak’s response: He would no longer support her job-required travel to Albany.
Tardone served as his communications director from July 2009 to December 2010, one of a string of women to hold that post since Gabryszak took office seven years ago.
Emily C. Trimper was Gabryszak’s district office administrator from August 2007 through March 2008.
Together they have collaborated on a new notice of claim against Gabryszak and the Assembly, making them the fifth and sixth women to publicly accuse the assemblyman of sexual harassment.
Gabryszak, a Democrat living in Depew, has uttered no word about the complaints since they broke onto the Albany scene in the week leading up to Christmas. His lawyer has silenced him pending an investigation by the Assembly’s Ethics and Guidance Committee.
Speculation has grown in Albany that Gabryszak will resign before the 2014 legislative session formally begins with Wednesday’s State of the State address by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo with the first full day of session on Jan. 13. But Gabryszak’s lawyer, Terrence M. Connors of Buffalo, offered no suggestion that Gabryszak will leave office before the ethics panel hears his case.
Several Albany Democrats urged Gabryszak to resign if the allegations are true. Among them is Cuomo, who raised the volume in recent days by saying Gabryszak should either deny the allegations publicly or resign. If he doesn’t resign, the Assembly should expel him, the governor said.
“The latest reports of sexual harassment in the Assembly should be the last straw,” Cuomo said in a statement Tuesday. “This pattern of behavior is repugnant by every standard and directly contradicts the policies the Assembly has advanced for the last 20 years.”
Like the first four women to complain about Gabryszak, Trimper was in her 20s when she began working for him in 2007. Like the others, she says he made the workplace uncomfortable.
According to the legal notice: He referred to the Cinemax channel as “Skin-A-Max” because of the risque programs he would find there. He hung photos of women’s belly buttons in his office. He would lean over her and invade her personal space. He offered use of his Albany apartment if she needed a place to stay while in the capital.
Tardone, unlike the others, was not in her 20s. She was 48 and Gabryszak was 57 when, according to the notice, he started making advances in her first week of employment in the summer of 2009.
When she arrived in Albany he met her at her hotel and insisted he go with her to her room to ensure that it was acceptable. They were expected at a dinner, and Tardone asked Gabryszak to leave the room so she could change. Instead, he took off his jacket, sat on the bed and started watching television, according to the legal document. Tardone took her clothes into the bathroom to dress privately.
Gabryszak often suggested she stay at his apartment while in Albany, she claims. According to the notice, she resisted by telling him it would be inappropriate. But she was at his apartment one day in 2009 because she had to review some documents he had there. That’s when he tried to kiss her, according to the notice.
After being spurned, Gabryszak became hostile toward Tardone and told her she “worked at his pleasure and that if she didn’t do what he asked, including traveling with him and attending dinners and social events with him, that she would be let go,” the notice says.
The document goes on to say that Tardone used her own salary – Assembly records put it at about $34,000 a year – to pay for her travel and lodging whenever she was required in Albany.
Like many of the other women now complaining publicly about Gabryszak, she says she went to his chief of staff, Adam Locher.
Locher’s response, according to the notice, was to “just ignore it, that is the way Dennis is.’’
email: mspina@buffnews.com and tprecious@buffnews.com