NYC mayoral candidate Scott Stringer, accused of sexual abuse and harassment, denies allegations
A woman who worked on mayoral contender Scott Stringer’s 2001 public advocate campaign accused him on Wednesday of sexually abusing and harassing her two decades ago.
The woman, Jean Kim, said Stringer, who has served as city comptroller for the past seven years, kissed and groped her without her consent and made multiple unwanted sexual advances.
Kim, who now works as a lobbyist, claimed she was working as an unpaid intern for Stringer at the time of the alleged incidents, which left her uneasy and led her to abandon Stringer’s Upper West Side political club.
“He kept saying, ‘Why won’t you f--- me? Why won’t you f--- me?’” Kim said at a press conference downtown outside Stringer’s Centre Street offices. “I became more and more uncomfortable with his advances and ultimately I moved across town to the East Side and left the Democratic club.”
Later in the day, Stringer denied the accusations.
“I believe women have the right and should be encouraged to come forward, and they must be heard. But this isn’t me. I didn’t do this. I’m going to fight for the truth because these allegations are false,” he said. “The behavior described is inaccurate and completely antithetical to the way I have conducted my life.”
Earlier, Kim claimed that disgraced former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — who was running for state senator at the time and resigned as AG in 2018 amid sexual abuse allegations — introduced her to Stringer.
Kim’s lawyer Patricia Pastor said Stringer warned her not to tell anyone about his advances and offered to help get her elected as a Democratic district leader.
“I have tried my best to put this chapter of my life behind me, forget about it all and move forward with my life,” Kim said. “But I’m coming forward now because being forced to see him in my living room on TV every day, pretending to be a champion for women’s rights, just sickens me when I know the truth.”
But Stringer claimed he was in a consensual relationship with Kim, that they were peers at the time, that she was not an intern for his campaign and that they were “friends for a period of years.”
“I remember Ms. Kim well. And these are the facts: I met Jean in the late 1990s. She supported and donated to my campaign for public advocate, beginning as early as 1999,” he said. “She was a peer. She was not — absolutely not — an intern on the campaign. Our internship program was made up of college students. She was not part of that.”
Stringer claimed that, at the time, Kim was employed as a “publicist” and was an “active supporter” of his campaign.
Earlier Wednesday, Pastor said that at no time did Kim and Stringer have a consensual relationship. She called for Stringer’s resignation and for the state attorney general and the city to investigate the matter.
The allegations come at a decisive time for Stringer. The Democratic primary is two months away, and recent polling shows him trailing behind front-runners Andrew Yang and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
On Wednesday afternoon, Stringer addressed Kim’s specific allegations alongside his wife, Elyse Buxbaum.
“For a several-month period around the time of the campaign, we had an on-and-off relationship over a few months. She was 30, and I was 41,” he said of Kim. “This relationship started and ended before I met my wife, Elyse. 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.”
Stringer added that he and Kim had an “amicable relationship for many years,” but that it soured in 2013 “when we could not find her a role on my campaign for comptroller.”
Buxbaum also revealed that she, herself, is a survivor of sexual abuse, which she said impacted her ability to trust others.
“Then I met Scott,” she said. “My entire life, I have never met a man more respectful of women or more committed to women’s rights.”
Before making those statements, cracks in support for Stringer’s mayoral run already had started to show through, with backers of the long-time Manhattan pol appearing poised to jump ship.
A joint statement issued by state Sens. Alessandra Biaggi, Julia Salazar and Yuh-Line Niou — all of whom have endorsed Stringer — held out the possibility that they could abandon him at any time and included a reference to Gov. Cuomo, who is also facing allegations of sexual harassment from several women.
“Our commitment to a harassment-free government, workplace, and society is steadfast, and our zero-tolerance standard regarding sexual assault applies to abusers like Andrew Cuomo, if not more so, to our friends,” they wrote. “This standard also applies to everyone who participates in the normalization or erasure of abuse. We always hold space for anyone to safely come forward to share their experiences and will demand accountability accordingly.”
Stringer’s opponents in the mayor’s race also piled on. Adams called the allegations “deeply troubling;” Maya Wiley, Mayor de Blasio’s former legal counsel, called the claims “truly disturbing;” and former HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan called on him to resign.
“Scott Stringer must immediately account for this abuse of a campaign intern, including the unwanted advances and the dangling of jobs,” Wiley said.
Yang described Kim’s coming forward as a “very brave step.” Candidates Dianne Morales, a former non-profit exec, and Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, both said they support Kim.
“Scott Stringer should stand by his own policy of zero tolerance for sexual harassment and drop out of the mayoral race,” Garcia said. “New Yorkers need and deserve a mayor they can trust, who demonstrates steady, competent and capable leadership. It is clear that Scott Stringer is not that person and that we need more women in leadership and elected office.”
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