COHOES – Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and two members of the Cohoes Common Council said Monday that embattled Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse should resign in the wake of physical abuse allegations published Sunday by the Times Union.

"The long-term pattern of abuse and violence described by victims and eyewitnesses is deeply disturbing," Sheehan said in a statement. "As a Democrat and a woman I believe it is important to state clearly and unequivocally that this behavior is unacceptable and Mr. Morse must step down."

Sheehan, along with Cohoes Common Council members Steve Napier and Randy Koniowka, joined with state Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, who said Sunday that Morse should resign. Like Morse, all are Democrats.

State Police are investigating an alleged domestic violence situation at his Morse home on Nov. 10. Morse's wife, Brenda, called 911 and told a dispatcher that her husband "grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the ground," according to a police record.

On Sunday, the Times Union reported additional abuse allegations against Morse that stretch back to the mid-1990s. Former Cohoes Mayor John McDonald, now a member of the state Assembly, was among those who confirmed seeing the abuse.

McDonald has declined to make additional comment, but other Cohoes politicians are speaking out.

"I have no reason to doubt the allegations of these women," said Napier. "Mayor Morse knows what happened. If he committed the assaults he should step down immediately."

"If the reports are true, and I believe they are, then he needs to go," said Koniowka, a frequent critic of Morse.

In a statement released just after 4 p.m. Monday, Morse said he would "refuse to dignify news stories that are based upon unnamed sources, political opportunists, rumor and innuendo from 30 years ago."

"I respectfully urge those who have expressed their opinion to refrain from rushing to judgment on this matter based upon unnamed sources in a newspaper story," he said. "In the absence of a credible, sworn allegation that I engaged in wrongdoing, I respectfully request my fellow Democrats and the good people of Cohoes to keep an open mind and permit any such allegations to be resolved by the courts, where I am entitled to the same measures of due process as any other citizen."

Morse claimed that his opponents were "looking to stop the momentum we have in Cohoes and attempting to downplay the incredible work my administration has accomplished in the past two years."

In her statement, Sheehan noted that the allegations against Morse were the subject of discussion at a Sunday-evening meeting of the Albany County Democratic Committee, which released a statement saying he should resign if "the allegations are found to be true."

"While I appreciated the Committee's statement against violence in all of its forms, I believe it falls short," Sheehan said. "Assemblywoman Fahy is right — Shawn Morse should resign as Mayor of Cohoes immediately."

Morse has also been an influential Democrat, previously serving as chairman of the Albany County Legislature.