A second woman has come forward in an interview detailing allegations of groping and sexual harassment by New York City Comptroller and current Democratic mayoral candidate Scott Stringer, some five weeks after a former intern made similar accusations of the longtime politician.
Teresa Logan, reportedly a former employee of Stringer's nearly three decades ago, told The New York Times that he once groped her as she carried trays at Uptown Local, an Upper West Side bar, and made unwanted sexual advances, "including kissing and groping, outside the workplace at least twice and treating her in a manner that often made her uncomfortable."
The alleged misconduct unfolded back in 1992, when Logan was 18 and Stringer 32, back before he was in public life. According to the report, Stringer co-founded and helped to run Uptown Local during the time of Logan's employment. Within three weeks of starting the position, Logan said she was carrying trays up a flight of chairs when Stringer was on his way down.
“He just, like, totally pats me on the butt, and like, squeezes it,” she told the Times. “I had no way of reacting. My hands weren’t free to even protect myself.”
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Later, after a night of work, Logan said she and Stringer were drinking and decided to move to another bar. Instead, walked to a building that turned out to be Stringer's apartment. Logan said she refused his request to go upstairs but he "began to kiss and grope her."
“It was almost like this out-of-body experience, where I’m like, ‘What do I do, like this is my boss,’” she said. “Meanwhile he’s like, his hand going up my skirt, and my chest.”
Logan told the NY Times that she concluded Stringer was a creep and tried to move past his repeated advances, which she said stopped with Stringer blaming his behavior on being drunk. Her sister and friend told the newspaper that they did recall Logan talking about the unwanted advances at the time.
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Stringer released a short statement in response to the allegations made Friday, in which he apologized but offered no direct denial of the misconduct Logan alleged.
“While I do not remember Ms. Logan, if I ever did anything to make her uncomfortable, I am sorry," Stringer said in responding to the allegations.
The accusations made by Logan follow that of Jean Kim, a former intern and longtime city lobbyist who accused the lawmaker in late April of groping and sexually harassing her. She told the Times it was Kim's decision to come forward that helped Logan speak out.
Jean Kim made the surprising allegations on April 28, saying Stringer "repeatedly groped me. Put his hands on my thighs and between my legs and demanded to know why I wouldn't have sex with him. He kept saying, 'Why won't you f--- me?'"
She said that the alleged misconduct occurred in 2001 in bars and taxis, while she was working as an unpaid intern for Stringer's campaign for public advocate. Kim insisted that she rejected his advances.
Speaking alongside her lawyer, Kim Explained why she chose now to describe the events she said happened 20 years ago.
"I am coming forward now because being forced to see him in my living room, TV, every day, pretending to be a champion of women's rights, just sickens me when I know the truth," she said at the press conference.
Hours after the accusation came to light, Stringer responded by saying "I don't talk that way. That's not the language I use and didn't use that language ever with Jean." During an appearance alongside his wife, Elyse Buxbaum, Stringer denied the allegations in full.
"I believe women have the right to come forward and be heard. But this isn't me, I didn't do this," he said. "I am gonna fight for the truth because these allegations are false .. the behavior described is inaccurate and completely antithetical to the way I have conducted my life."
Stringer said Kim was a friend and a campaign volunteer, not an intern or subordinate. He also acknowledged that they had a brief romantic relationship at that time, when she was 30 and he was a 41-year-old state assemblyman.
"I believe it was a mutual, consensual relationship. I never used any force, made any threats, or did any of the things that are alleged," the mayoral hopeful said. He also admitted that at the time of what he characterized as a "light relationship" with Kim, he was in a serious relationship with another woman he was living with.
Kim's lawyer said there was no consensual sexual relationship between the two, and that Stringer dangled opportunities before her as he pursued a physical relationship. The lawyer claimed that the politician suggested he could make Kim the first Asian district leader on the west side, but only after she proved her loyalty.
"I have always been fearful of his vindictive nature," Kim said at the time.
Buxbaum defended her husband while surprisingly disclosing her own history of abuse, saying "like so many women, I am a survivor of sexual abuse ... in my entire life, I have never met a man more respectful of women and more committed to women’s rights." She added that "if even a fraction of what Scott has been accused of is true, I would not stand by him. I'm not that kind of doting wife."
This story is developing.
