ALBANY – Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak is being accused of making crude sexual comments and committing other inappropriate acts involving three now-former legislative staffers, according to a report published today.
Gabryszak, D-Cheektowaga, is the subject of three separate complaints by former aides who said he did everything from telling one that she sexually aroused him to taking another to a massage parlor in her first two weeks on the job, the Albany Times Union reported this morning.
The women felt forced to quit their jobs, according to papers served on the state attorney general’s office Thursday and in a notice of claim submitted to the State Court of Claims, which is the court where financial claims against the state are brought.
Gabryszak, 60, was first elected to the Assembly in 2006. His official biography states that he has been married to his wife for 37 years and has two children.
Gabryszak did not answer his cellphone this morning and did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The report said Annalise Freling, 28, who served as Gabryszak’s communications director, said the assemblyman told her she aroused him and he would comment to her about women’s anatomy and about going to strip clubs. She said the assemblyman would ask her to get information on his cellphone or iPad, where she found pictures of naked women and escort service information.
Freling quit her job, which paid $34,000 a year, last May.
Also filing a case is 26-year-old Kimberly Snickles, according to the newspaper, who lasted as Freling’s replacement only from May to October. She said Gabryszak took her to a massage parlor and made sexual comments.
She lives in Western New York but traveled to Albany. On work trips with the assemblyman, the paper states, Gabryszak suggested she share a room with him. He allegedly suggested the woman and another female staffer wear bikinis to events and asked if they kissed in the back seat while they accompanied him to events.
The third woman, Jamie Campbell, 24, said she was made to feel uncomfortable by the assemblyman, and that he gave her gifts and became upset if she declined his advances that she socialize with him. The newspaper said the lawmaker “seemed unhappy’’ when she announced her engagement and that he offered her a $100,000 job if she moved to the Buffalo area. He also allegedly made sexually suggestive remarks to her and sent her a photo of himself in a sexually suggestive pose.
The report said two other former staffers also may be bringing an action against Gabryszak.
Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said this morning that the speaker’s office was never notified by the three former staffers of any of the allegations involving Gabryszak. The Assembly leader ordered a new policy that if his office is told of any such allegations, it will be immediately referred to the Assembly ethics committee to investigate. That change came after Silver negotiated a once-secret settlement deal involving a sexual harassment case against a former assemblyman from Brooklyn.
In recent years, Albany has had a long string of cases brought by former aides, usually female, who say they were mistreated or sexually harassed by their Assembly or Senate bosses.
email: tprecious@buffnews.com
Gabryszak, D-Cheektowaga, is the subject of three separate complaints by former aides who said he did everything from telling one that she sexually aroused him to taking another to a massage parlor in her first two weeks on the job, the Albany Times Union reported this morning.
The women felt forced to quit their jobs, according to papers served on the state attorney general’s office Thursday and in a notice of claim submitted to the State Court of Claims, which is the court where financial claims against the state are brought.
Gabryszak, 60, was first elected to the Assembly in 2006. His official biography states that he has been married to his wife for 37 years and has two children.
Gabryszak did not answer his cellphone this morning and did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The report said Annalise Freling, 28, who served as Gabryszak’s communications director, said the assemblyman told her she aroused him and he would comment to her about women’s anatomy and about going to strip clubs. She said the assemblyman would ask her to get information on his cellphone or iPad, where she found pictures of naked women and escort service information.
Freling quit her job, which paid $34,000 a year, last May.
Also filing a case is 26-year-old Kimberly Snickles, according to the newspaper, who lasted as Freling’s replacement only from May to October. She said Gabryszak took her to a massage parlor and made sexual comments.
She lives in Western New York but traveled to Albany. On work trips with the assemblyman, the paper states, Gabryszak suggested she share a room with him. He allegedly suggested the woman and another female staffer wear bikinis to events and asked if they kissed in the back seat while they accompanied him to events.
The third woman, Jamie Campbell, 24, said she was made to feel uncomfortable by the assemblyman, and that he gave her gifts and became upset if she declined his advances that she socialize with him. The newspaper said the lawmaker “seemed unhappy’’ when she announced her engagement and that he offered her a $100,000 job if she moved to the Buffalo area. He also allegedly made sexually suggestive remarks to her and sent her a photo of himself in a sexually suggestive pose.
The report said two other former staffers also may be bringing an action against Gabryszak.
Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said this morning that the speaker’s office was never notified by the three former staffers of any of the allegations involving Gabryszak. The Assembly leader ordered a new policy that if his office is told of any such allegations, it will be immediately referred to the Assembly ethics committee to investigate. That change came after Silver negotiated a once-secret settlement deal involving a sexual harassment case against a former assemblyman from Brooklyn.
In recent years, Albany has had a long string of cases brought by former aides, usually female, who say they were mistreated or sexually harassed by their Assembly or Senate bosses.
email: tprecious@buffnews.com
