NEW YORK — A second woman has accused New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Scott Stringer of sexual harassment, according to a report by the New York Times.
The woman, Teresa Logan, claims she was a waitress and bartender at Uptown Local, an Upper West Side bar that Stringer co-founded and ran in 1992. In an interview with the Times, she said Stringer once groped her as she carried trays; made unwanted sexual advances, including kissing and groping, outside the workplace at least twice; and treated her in a manner that often made her uncomfortable.
In a statement to PIX11, Stringer did not deny the allegations.
“While I do not remember Ms. Logan, if I ever did anything to make her uncomfortable, I am sorry,” he said.
Stringer elaborated about his life at the time of the alleged incidents in a statement to the Times.
“Uptown Local was a long-ago chapter in my life from the early 1990s and it was all a bit of a mess,” Stringer said.
The report cites three people who knew Logan at that time who confirmed she worked at Uptown Local, including Logan’s sister. There are no known witnesses of the unwanted advances, but her sister told the Times that Logan “came home deeply shaken at least twice” and told her about them.
This is the second accusation of inappropriate behavior Stringer has faced during his mayoral campaign.
In April, Jean Kim alleged Stringer groped her without consent two decades ago, when he was a member of the state Assembly. Stringer denied the allegations, saying he and Kim had a brief, consensual relationship.
“Jean will participate fully with the OAG in any investigation it conducts into this matter,” Kim’s lawyer said in a statement, referring to the Office of the Attorney General.
Stringer’s campaign has been slammed since Kim first went public with her allegations.
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, City Council members Mark Levine and Diana Ayala, state Sen. Jose Serrano, New York’s Working Families Party Rep. Jamaal Bowman, state Sens. Alessandra Biaggi and Julia Salazar, and Assembly members Yuh-Line Niou, Carmen De La Rosa and Catalina Cruz all rescinded endorsements of his campaign.
Kim told PIX11 News she came forward because of Stringer’s campaign; she said she didn’t want to see him elected as mayor.
“He was gaining momentum and I had to see him every day on my living room TV, especially the hypocrisy of him calling himself a woman’s rights champion,” she said. “That really was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Stringer admitted to a months-long consensual relationship with Kim, who the mayoral candidate said was a volunteer — not an intern — for his public advocate campaign.
“I categorically deny that in any way I did anything without her consent. We were friends for a very long time, it turned into something more for a brief time,” Stringer told PIX11 News at the time. “It was just totally consensual.”
Stringer said the pair had an “amicable” relationship for years until 2013, when she approached him for a job. After she didn’t get the job, she went to his rival campaign, according to Stringer.
Stringer had previously called for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign in the face of a multitude of sexual harassment allegations against him. He said his situation is different.
PIX11 News’ Katie Corrado, Lauren Cook, Aliza Chasan, Dan Mannarino and Kristine Garcia contributed to this story.
