By Brent Johnson and Susan K. Livio | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday speaks at a news conference in Newark about the allegations. Photo by Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

In the first ethical test of his governorship, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and his administration have been rocked by allegations that a senior staffer raped a woman while working for Murphy's campaign last year.

Katie Brennan, chief of staff of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, on Sunday publicly accused Albert J. Alvarez of sexually assaulting her last spring.

Though Alvarez was never charged, Brennan said she alerted Murphy's team three times of the allegations over the last year. Alvarez stayed in his job as chief of staff of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority until Oct. 2, as rumors of the matter spread through Trenton.

Murphy on Monday launched an independent investigation into the matter. But some state lawmakers want separate public hearings.

Here's what you need to know about what has happened so far:

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1. What does Brennan allege happened?

Brennan detailed the alleged attack in a story published by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

It was April of last year, while Brennan was a Murphy supporter and Alvarez was director of the campaign's Latino and Muslim outreach.

Brennan recalled that Alvarez offered to drive her back to her Jersey City apartment after a campaign event in the city. She said Alvarez asked to use the bathroom and have a drink of water before he headed to his home.

Once inside, Brennan said, Alvarez pushed her onto a couch and forced himself on her, eventually putting his fingers insider her vagina. She said she told him, "This is not consensual."

Then, Brennan said, Alvarez pulled off her pants and underwear, took off some of his clothes, and thrust onto her. She said she kicked him off and locked herself in a bathroom. Alvarez left, she said.

That night, Brennan told her husband, who was out of the country, and her friend of the alleged incident.

Brennan said she called police the next day and she went to the emergency room at Jersey City Medical Center a day after that for a "rape kit," an examination used to gather evidence after a sexual assault.

Brennan said she also sent Alvarez a letter days later asking him never to contact her again.

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2. Who is Brennan?

Brennan, 31, later volunteered for the campaign as an adviser on housing policy. She told the Journal she hoped the alleged attack didn't jeopardize her chances of getting a job in Murphy's administration.

After Murphy beat Republican Kim Guadagno in last November's election, she and Alvarez both worked for his transition team.

Brennan now holds a $125,000-a-year job as chief of staff of the state's Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.

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3. Who is Alvarez? And what has he said about this?

Alvarez, 44, of Wood-Ridge, is a longtime Democratic figure in the state. He served as a deputy chief of staff under then-Gov. Jon Corzine and later worked as an attorney for the state Democratic Committee.

After working for Murphy's campaign and his transition team, Alvarez landed the $140,000-a-year job as chief of staff of the state's Schools Development Authority. The agency funds and manages construction in 31 school districts across the Garden State.

Alvarez and his attorney, John Hogan, have not returned multiple messages from NJ Advance Media seeking comment. But Hogan told the Journal his client "absolutely, positively denies these allegations of sexual assault" and declined further comment.

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4. How did Murphy's team handle the allegations? And when did Murphy find out?

Brennan said she was shocked when she learned last winter the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office decided not pursue charges against Alvarez. She said she was told the office didn't believe there was enough evidence for a jury to convict him, according to the Journal.

She also said she reached out to Murphy's team about the allegations three times. The first was after Murphy was elected, when she alerted his transition team of the matter in December.

Murphy spokesman Mahen Gunaratna said the transition learned law enforcement looked into the allegations and declined to pursue charges. Alvarez passed a background check and was cleared for his new state job, Gunaratna added.

The second time was just after Murphy took office. In March, Brennan said she took her allegation to Matt Platkin, the governor’s chief counsel, who was instrumental to Murphy’s campaign and the transition period.

Platkin recused himself because he know both Brennan and Alvarez and referred the matter to an ethics officer in Murphy's administration, according to Gunaratna. That ethics officer referred the matter to the state Attorney General’s Office, Gunaratna said.

That spring, a Murphy administration official contacted Charlie McKenna, the head of the Schools Development Authority, to suggest Alvarez leave his job. They “told me that you need to tell him to step back, and I did,” McKenna told NJ Advance Media.

Then, in June, Brennan emailed Murphy and his wife, First Lady Tammy Murphy, directly, saying she wanted to discuss a “sensitive matter” that happened during the campaign. She did not reference the allegation itself.

The governor responded: “Hang in. We are on it," according to the Journal report.

A Murphy campaign attorney later reached out to Brennan to say Alvarez would be winding down his job.

Alvarez didn't resign until Oct. 2, the same day the Journal contacted him to ask about the allegations.

Murphy said he didn't find out about the accusations until that day.

On Oct. 9, as news broke that Alvarez resigned and rumors swirled, Murphy would not say why the staffer stepped down.

"I know that Al has resigned, and beyond that I have no more color to offer," Murphy said at an unrelated news conference.

In the days after that, multiple news outlets — including NJ Advance Media — reported details about the allegations facing Alvarez, citing anonymous sources. The Wall Street Journal then published Brennan's account Oct. 14.

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5. What did Brennan say about this?

Brennan said in a statement Sunday that she "pursued every form of justice available. But it has become clear that this system is not built for survivors."

She explained she "decided to come forward because I know that Al Alvarez, and all perpetrators, must be held accountable, must never rape again, and the justice system needs a complete change with regard to sexual violence."

"It is clear that leadership from the Murphy administration is needed to create meaningful policy change on several levels to make sure future victims do not have to endure what I have," Brennan added.

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6. What did Murphy say about how this was handled?

Murphy held a 33-minute news conference in Newark on Monday to address the matter. He stressed that while he felt his administration handled the matter properly according to protocol, his transition team should have never hired Alvarez for a state job this past winter.

The governor said he was "sick to his stomach" once he learned what happened.

Murphy announced he was launching an independent investigation into Alvarez's hiring. It will be headed by Peter Verniero, the former state Supreme Court Justice and state attorney general.

"We will not follow the lead of Washington," Murphy said. "This will be a real investigation."

Murphy also said his administration will look into how to strengthen New Jersey's laws and policies for how to respond to sexual assault allegations.

"Sexual misconduct in any form is and will be continued to be treated by this administration with the utmost gravity," the governor said. "Now we must lead and prove that commitment. Words are not enough."

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7. The attorney general has re-assigned the case. What does that mean?

At the same time Monday, the state Attorney General's Office announced the case might be re-opened.

State official said because it was discovered during a review that Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez personally knew both Brennan and Alvarez, the case was sent last week to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office detectives are "reviewing the case file and will take any additional investigative steps they deem appropriate," said Sharon Lauchaire, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office.

Neither Suarez nor members of her executive leadership team were involved in the case when it was investigated in Hudson County, Lauchaire said. Suarez asked state officials to take over "out of an abundance of caution" after she learned the case involved people she knew, Lauchaire said.

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8. Who is Verniero?

Verniero, a longtime Republican, served as chief counsel to then-Gov. Christie Whitman, a Republican, in the 1990s and then as state attorney general.

Whitman appointed him to the state Supreme Court in 1999. But two years later, he faced public scrutiny on allegations that he had misled the Senate Judiciary committee during his confirmation hearings on how his office handled racial profiling. Initially, lawmakers sought to impeach him, though that never happened. Verniero resigned in 2003 and returned to private practice.

He has been tapped by governors before. Gov. Chris Christie chose him to defend the state's school funding cuts before the state Supreme Court, and to lead a panel that advises the governor on judicial appointments.

He is currently a partner at the north Jersey law firm Sills Cummis & Gross. The firm donated $100,000 in 2017 to the Democratic Governors Association, which spent $1.2 million to help elect Murphy, according to state and federal campaign finance records.

Verniero said in a statement Monday that Murphy "assured" he will have "complete independence" to request interviews with witnesses and access relevant documents in this investigation.

He said he expects the review to be done by the end of the year.

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9. But Murphy's team now was similar to what it was then. What does he say to that?

Murphy claimed his transition team mishandled the matter. But many of his transition officials now serve in his administration.

Isn't he splitting hairs, the governor was asked Monday?

"Peter Verniero wasn’t in the transition," Murphy said. "We’re putting together a real ... independent investigation."

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10. And why didn't Murphy follow up himself?

Though Murphy said he didn't find out about the allegations until recently, Brennan sent him an email in June about a "sensitive matter" that his aides then followed up on.

On Monday, Murphy was asked why he didn't personally follow up on what Brennan was asked. Wasn't he at least curious what the "sensitive matter" was?

Murphy said he gets similar emails "literally all the time" from people asking for a meeting.

"Tammy and I have been reminded time and again that to do one-off meetings with folks, good, bad or otherwise creates an unevenness in the organization,'' Murphy said. "And we have been reminded many times that we have professionals to do this for a living. You have processes that are in place. Stick to them."

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11. Will Murphy fire anyone?

Murphy was also asked whether he will discipline — or fire — any staff members over the matter. He said he's waiting for the investigation's findings but that he's open to that.

"I absolutely have to be open" to that option, he said.

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12. Republicans (and at least one Democrat) want legislative hearings. Will they happen?

Republican state lawmakers have been calling for days for the Democrat-controlled state Legislature to launch public hearings on Murphy's hiring practices.

All five Republican women serving in the state Assembly introduced legislation Monday seeking a legislative investigation.

"If the victim had the courage to speak up as often as she did, the Legislature should have the courage to find justice in the matter," said Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen, a sponsor of the measure.

At the same time, one Democratic leader, state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, called for a joint legislative committee to investigate the state's laws and policies for how law enforcement and officials handle allegations of sexual misconduct.

"Clearly, reforms are needed so that no more survivors are forced to endure what Ms. Brennan has experienced," said Weinberg, D-Bergen, New Jersey's highest ranking woman state lawmaker.

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Tammy Murphy, New Jersey's first lady, tells her story of sexual assault to the crowd at the Women's March on New Jersey in Morristown in January.

13. Will this scandal affect Murphy's record on women's issues?

From appointing nearly an all-female cabinet, to restoring funding for family planning clinics, to criticizing now-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh over sexual assault allegations, Murphy has made women's issues a touchstone in his administration.

Now Brennan's experience threatens to undermine Murphy's feminist record and rhetoric.

The governor said hearing Brennan's story made him feel "horribly."

He reminded the press his wife, Tammy Murphy, had revealed during the women's march in January her own experience with sexual assault in college. She attended the press conference Monday but did not speak publicly.

"We didn't know each other when it happened to Tammy," the governor said. "I know what she has had to live with. It's awful. feel awful for Katie. She has been screaming out for help, and she didn't get it."

Murphy pledged a review of state laws and policies governing how sexual assault is investigated will result in changes that would make New Jersey "the gold standard" on the issue.

Besides Murphy's partisan foes, women in leadership positions around the state are watching to see how he handles this scandal.

“We are concerned by reporting that says the Murphy administration was aware of the reported sexual violence by Mr. Alvarez as far back as during (the) transition,” Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said after the allegations surfaced last week.

“While we wait for all of the facts to come to light, we know one thing for certain. Sexual violence is not a partisan issue — but too often, it’s treated as such,” Teffenhart added. “For us, there is not one day we don’t take this very seriously – and the stories that have hit New Jersey media outlets over the last 24 hours will provide an opportunity for everyone in the highest levels of state leadership to affirm their commitment to creating a safer Garden State.”

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14. And there's another allegation against Alvarez?

Meanwhile, a second woman came forward Monday to tell her own story accusing Alvarez of trying to sexually assault her, during a law school party 20 years ago.

The woman, who spoke to NJ Advance Media on the condition of anonymity, said she feels remorse for not reporting to police how Alvarez attacked her her during a Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal gathering in 1999.

Gunaratna, Murphy's spokesman, confirmed Sunday that another woman told the governor's office about another accusation against Alvarez dating to that time period.

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15. So what's next?

Murphy held his news conference just before he set off on a nine-day trade mission to Germany and Israel. It's possible reporters overseas will press him on the matter. (NJ Advance Media's Matt Arco is on the trip.)

At home, all eyes are now on state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, who could decide whether to launch investigative hearings or not.

Neither leader revealed Monday whether they will authorize public hearings.

Senate Democratic leaders said only they demand a "full and straightforward accounting" of how the allegations against Alvarez were handled.

Assembly Democratic leaders said "as the situation continues to unfold and new facts are presented, we will swiftly determine the appropriate next steps with every option on the table."

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MORE COVERAGE:

Phil Murphy launches investigation into why alleged rapist was hired for top state job

N.J.'s top woman lawmaker calls for hearings after ex-Murphy staffer accused of rape

Woman accusing Murphy staffer of rape says she 'received no justice'

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NJ Advance Media staff writers Matt Arco, Kelly Heyboer, Samantha Marcus, and S.P. Sullivan contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.

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