Jon Campbell | Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Jon Campbell / Albany Bureau

Submitted

ALBANY - A former staff member accused state Sen. Jeff Klein of forcibly kissing her while celebrating passage of the state budget in 2015, an allegation Klein strenuously denied Wednesday.

Erica Vladimer told the Huffington Post the senator "shoved his tongue" down her throat when the two stepped outside an Albany bar then known as Justin's for a cigarette break while Klein's girlfriend, Sen. Diane Savino, sat inside.

The alleged incident occurred in the early morning hours of April 1, 2015, not long after the Legislature approved the state's annual budget.

At the time, Vladimer, now 30, was working as a policy analyst and counsel for the Senate Independent Democratic Conference, an eight-member group of breakaway Democrats led by Klein, D-Bronx, who represents parts of lower Westchester County.

“I pulled away and I said, ‘Senator, absolutely not," Vladimer told the website. “And he looked at me and said, with this stupid little grin on his face, ‘What? What?’ Like he was being coy, almost trying to flirt and play a game.”

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Klein, now 57, quickly assembled a conference call with reporters to deny the allegation before the website's story was posted.

The powerful senator has a prominent role in state budget talks and major policy negotiations in Albany as head of the IDC, whose members conference on their own apart from the rest of the chamber's Democrats.

His Bronx-based district includes parts of Pelham and Bronxville in Westchester.

Klein acknowledged being in the bar with Vladimer, Savino and several IDC staffers on the night in question and even that he and Vladimer stepped outside for a cigarette at one point.

But he repeatedly denied any inappropriate behavior occurred once outside.

"I want to be crystal clear: This alleged incident never happened nor did anything inappropriate happen in any fashion that evening," Klein said on the call. "Period."

His office later released a three-page memo from Loeb & Loeb, a law firm hired by Klein, that claims the allegation "defies reason and logic," noting things like Klein's denial, interviews with staffers who were present that night and the restaurant's large windows facing the street.

The memo acknowledged the investigation is ongoing.

Vladimer told the Huffington Post she was shaken by the incident, which led her to leave her job with the IDC about a month later.

"The fact that there was an environment that could make me doubt the self-confidence that I worked so hard to have ― that I got from the strong women in my life ― made me feel like it wasn’t the place for me,” Vladimer told the website.

Vladimer said she immediately confided in a friend and fellow Senate staffer the night the alleged kiss occurred.

The friend, whom the Huffington Post did not name because she still works in the Senate, also spoke to a reporter for the website about Vladimer being upset and confiding in her the night of the alleged incident.

Klein and Savino both spoke on the conference call Wednesday to deny the allegations.

Savino, D-Staten Island, confirmed she was with Klein in the Albany bar the night the alleged incident occurred. She denied the incident happened.

"We are prepared to participate in any and all investigations to clear Senator Klein's name," Savino said.

Vladimer, meanwhile, confided in Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, in recent weeks about the incident.

Krueger, who has long railed against sexual harassment in the state Legislature, said Vladimer first reached out and spoke to her several weeks ago about the alleged incident without naming the senator in question.

Over the course of several conversations, Krueger and Vladimer explored whether to seek criminal charges against the senator, who Krueger said was still unknown to her.

After determining the statute of limitations likely had expired, Vladimer told Krueger she was planning to speak to the press about the alleged incident, Krueger said.

On Tuesday, Krueger said Vladimer called her to tell her the Huffington Post article would publish Wednesday. At that point, Krueger said she asked Vladimer who the senator in question was, and Vladimer told her it was Klein.

Krueger, who sits with the main Senate Democratic Conference, called for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the incident.

"She was an honest, credible person who understood the ramifications of going forward with her story would probably result in some pain for herself, and that no doubt whomever she was accusing would deny it and complain that she was making things up," Krueger said in a phone interview with the USA Today Network's Albany Bureau.

Klein told reporters he is not stepping down as head of the IDC, which he first helped found in 2011.

Late Wednesday, IDC Communications Director Candice Giove released a joint statement from the six members of the conference other than Klein and Savino.

The statement pledged "complete confidence" in Klein.

Among those listed on the statement was Sen. David Carlucci, D-Clarkstown, Rockland County.

"We understand this is an important moment in our history and we want to continue to encourage women to come forward," the joint statement read. "However, we know Jeff Klein, and the allegations would be completely out of character for him. He is (a) longtime champion for women, and for our state."