New York state Sen. Julia Salazar (D-Brooklyn) says an older male colleague once told her she looked “like a Bond girl” while in the legislative chamber.
Salazar, 30, recalled the encounter in a New York Times article published Monday that detailed Albany’s toxic environment for women.
“It seemed odd for my male colleague to say that,” she told the newspaper.
Salazar, who joined the Legislature in 2019, said the Republican senator randomly made the comment as they sat near each other in the chamber.
She asked that the senator, who has since retired, not be identified — but noted that he was also known to turn around in his chair and openly stare at women.
Salazar remembered another incident in which a fellow legislator’s staffer made inappropriate comments toward her at a 2019 fundraiser just outside the Capitol.
“He said, ‘You should be on a calendar,’” recalled Salazar, who was 28 at the time. “I was so embarrassed that I left.”
Encounters like these are commonplace in Albany, the Times reported, based on more than 30 interviews with women and men — including aides, lobbyists, government officials and elected leaders — who described a “predatory and misogynistic culture.”
“There’s a whole community of very smart people who are jaded by the abusive behavior and accept it as normal and don’t do anything about it,” state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx/Westchester) told the paper.
Biaggi argued that the behavior of Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who is facing a stream of sexual harassment allegations from current and former aides — and that of his staff, sent a signal to others in Albany.
“If they see the person at the highest level get away with it, and they align themselves with that person, then they’ll get away with it too,” she told the Times.
Both Salazar and Biaggi, who worked in the governor’s office before she was elected in 2018, have previously called for Cuomo’s resignation over the allegations.
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April 13, 2021 at 07:48AM
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NY state Sen. Julia Salazar says male colleague told her she looked 'like a Bond girl' - New York Post
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