Hoyt avoids severe penalty by Assembly for affair with intern
But offices banned from using interns
ALBANY — Assemblyman Sam Hoyt escaped the most serious punishment by his Assembly colleagues for his extramarital affair with an intern, but college interns have been banned from his Albany and Buffalo offices.
The ban, announced Friday by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, followed a finding by the Assembly Ethics and Guidance Committee that the Buffalo Democrat had engaged in an “inappropriate personal relationship” with the woman, who was an intern when the affair began.
But stronger penalties — a formal censure or loss of his committee chairmanship — was not taken because she no longer was an intern in 2004 when the Assembly banned fraternization between lawmakers and interns.
Applying the rule retroactively would have opened up thorny legal issues, people involved in the matter said.
Still, Silver had harsh words for Hoyt’s conduct, the subject of an ethics committee inquiry that began last month.
“The Assembly Ethics and Guidance Committee found that Sam Hoyt had an improper relationship with an intern. I am deeply disturbed and disappointed by the actions of Assemblyman Hoyt and will take action against him as recommended by the unanimous decision of the bipartisan committee,” Silver said in a statement.
Silver declined an interview request.
In an interview, Hoyt said he accepts Silver’s decision. But he said banning him from the intern program will affect about 40 students from area public and private colleges who work every year in his Buffalo office.
“I regret that my behavior resulted in a decision by the ethics committee that will prevent those kids from having the opportunity to participate in what was a very widely well-respected program,” Hoyt said.
“I consider the punishment, in terms of the substance, a serious one,” he added. Hoyt in a statement apologized to his family and constituents.
In a state capital with two other ongoing scandals involving lawmakers, sexual indiscretions at times have been a cottage industry. Hoyt’s affair raised eyebrows higher back in his district than in Albany. But the Legislature’s most powerful Democrat sought to send a strong message that interns are off limits to lawmakers.
“Student interns come to the Assembly because this setting provides an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the legislative process and New York’s political landscape. It is absolutely unacceptable for any Assembly member to behave in this manner, or to do anything else that damages the integrity of the intern program,” Silver said.
According to its Web site, the intern program involves 150 undergraduate and graduate students who spend a session on Assembly-related work to get college credit and “gain firsthand knowledge of the legislative process.”
The ethics inquiry found Hoyt’s affair began in August 2003 when the woman, whose name is being withheld by The Buffalo News, was a 23-year-old intern. It lasted until March 2005.
“Assemblyman Hoyt’s actions demonstrate why the policy we adopted four years ago is necessary,” Silver said.
Losing the chairmanship of the Assembly’s Local Governments Committee would have cost Hoyt the $15,000 annual stipend he receives in addition to his base salary of $79,500. As he does after every election, Silver will re-examine all committee assignments in January, and whether Hoyt retains his committee post remains unclear.
Friday was not a good day for Hoyt. Soon after the release of Silver’s letter, Gov. David A. Paterson’s office announced action on more than 100 pieces of legislation. The vetoes included three of Hoyt’s top priority bills.
Sources acknowledged internal discussions about trying to apply the intern rule retroactively to Hoyt, but said that would have opened up a potential can of worms involving other lawmakers previously accused of sexual indiscretions.
Hoyt had argued by the time the fraternization ban took effect in May 2004, the woman had become an Assembly staffer, and no policy forbids lawmakers from dating staff members. No rules, therefore, were violated, Hoyt insisted. He noted that he already had apologized to his family and constituents for his marital lapse.
In an interview earlier this week, Hoyt said he was optimistic he would be cleared.
“I’m no lawyer, but I know the law well enough to be able to state so definitively and repeatedly that I did not break the house rules. I made a statement of apology, an admission of an inappropriate relationship, but I did not break the house rules,” he said Wednesday.
Democratic and Republican Assembly members had questioned Hoyt that day for nearly an hour behind closed doors in the Capitol. The panel then recommended options for Silver to consider.
The woman, now a graduate of the University at Buffalo Law School, did not work for Hoyt as an intern or Assembly staffer, and no longer works for the Assembly.
Over the years, Albany has become quite familiar with legislators’ sexual indiscretions. The Assembly imposed the anti-fraternization rule after allegations that a member, Adam Clayton Powell IV, a Harlem Democrat, had spent time in an Albany motel with a 19-year-old intern and had provided her with alcohol.
The rule was applied for the first time when the Assembly censured Assemblyman Michael Cole, R-Alden, last year and stripped of his committee posts after spending the night in the apartment of an Albany intern. Cole denied anything improper occurred, but in his bid for re-election, recently lost to Jane L. Corwin of Clarence in the Republican Party primary.
Once Cole leaves office in December, Hoyt will be the only member of the State Legislature barred from having an internship program.
