Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Prominent New York State Senator Accused Of Forcibly Kissing Staffer

New York state senator Jeffrey Klein was accused by a former Senate staffer of forcibly kissing her in 2015, the Huffington Post reported Wednesday.

Klein, who leads the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference, represents the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale in the Senate. Klein denied the allegations.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, among others, has called for an investigation, according to the Huffington Post.

The former staffer, Erica Vladimer, told the Huffington Post that Klein had kissed her outside of a bar where they were gathering with other senators and staffers.

“All of a sudden there was a hand on the back of my head and he shoved his tongue down my throat,” Vladimer told the site. “In my head it lasted forever, I don’t think it lasted even three seconds.”

As the head of the IDC, Klein is a kingmaker in Albany. A pending deal with the mainstream Democrats could soon make him one of the two co-leaders of the State Senate.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.