Woman in Hoyt affair discloses she was an intern when relationship began
A woman who had an affair with Assemblyman Sam Hoyt has told the Assembly’s Ethics and Guidance Committee that she was an intern in the spring of 2003 when they first had sex, according to a source close to the investigation.
The woman, who was 23 at the time and whose name is being withheld by The Buffalo News, was an intern in the office of Assemblywoman Teresa R. Sayward, R-Willsboro, when she first met Hoyt, a Buffalo Democrat, who was 41 at the time.
She told committee members late last month that Hoyt asked her on a date, the source said, and they later went to her apartment. She said the affair with the married assemblyman continued after she became a staff member for another legislator.
The disclosure that the woman, who has since graduated from the University at Buffalo Law School, was an intern when the affair began would not mean a violation of Assembly rules against fraternizing with interns, since they were adopted later.
The Assembly did not adopt rules against its members’ having relationships with interns until May 18, 2004, after revelations that Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, D-Harlem, and a 19-year-old female intern had met in a motel for drinks.
The woman whose affair with Hoyt has erupted into a issue in the Democratic primary campaign had become a communications clerk with the Assembly and was no longer an intern by the time the anti-fraternization rule passed, according to payroll records.
Assemblyman William B. Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, chairman of the ethics panel, could not be reached to comment. A Magnarelli staff member said that nothing is scheduled on the Hoyt matter and that Magnarelli would not comment.
Hoyt, who faces a primary election Tuesday against former Common Council Member Barbra A. Kavanaugh, issued a statement to The Buffalo News on Aug. 18, confirming he had “broken my marriage vows” 3z years ago.
Hoyt has declined to comment since the ethics investigation began.
Jeremy C. Toth, a Hoyt spokesman, released the following statement Thursday, calling the revelation by an unnamed source, five days before the primary, “the worst sort of political smear.”
“This is sabotage orchestrated by Sam’s political opponents in a desperate attempt to turn around an election that they know they are going to lose,” Toth said.
“That said, even if this information is accurate, then it is clear and unequivocal that Sam Hoyt committed no ethical violation. Sam Hoyt broke no law.
“Sam has admitted to an affair that occurred four years ago with a woman in her mid-20s,” Toth said.
“She did not work for Sam. She was an adult. Sam has never denied any of this and has taken full responsibility for those actions. He has openly discussed this issue for several years with his friends, his family and his own spiritual leaders. Sam’s family has forgiven him and believes that this is a private matter.”
Hoyt’s initial statement came after Joseph J. Illuzzi, who operates a local Internet site on politics, sent a package of eight e-mails between the woman and Hoyt to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, in late August, demanding an ethics investigation.
Silver promised “appropriate action” and turned the matter over to Magnarelli’s ethics panel.
“I understand I am a public figure,” Hoyt said earlier to The News. “But I’ve reconciled with my family, and I’m pleased to report I am happily married. No rules were broken; no laws were broken. I broke my marriage vows.”
Illuzzi also accused Hoyt of a second affair, based on one of the e-mails. No independent corroboration of that affair has been discovered, and Hoyt has declined to discuss it.
Kavanaugh has not mentioned Hoyt’s problems in her campaign. However, Responsible New York, a political committee headed by Buffalo Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano, has endorsed Kavanaugh and has filled 144th District mailboxes with anti-Hoyt political fliers referring to the affair.
Responsible New York, according to filings last week with the state Board of Elections, has so far spent $567,835 on elections in New York State.
Three anti-Hoyt fliers sent to homes in the district in the last two weeks carry the Responsible New York mailing permit.
Toth, an attorney, has accused the Golisano group and its co-chairman, former Erie County Democratic Chairman G. Steven Pigeon, with committing election law fraud. Toth said Responsible New York has coordinated the anti-Hoyt campaign with Kavanaugh.
Election law sets a maximum donation of $6,000 to Assembly candidates but creates an exception for independent committees as long as they do not coordinate their efforts with the campaigns.
Toth said John F. O’Donnell Jr., a Responsible New York staff member, shared authority over Kavanaugh’s campaign treasury until he resigned Aug.
7. O’Donnell has denied the accusation, and Pigeon has called Toth’s accusations “outrageous.”
