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The woman who accused a former senior official of Governor Philip D. Murphy's administration of sexual assault, said in her first public statement about it that she "had not received justice "about his allegation and had blamed the response of members of the administration.
"Several senior members of the Murphy administration were aware of my aggression and took no concrete action," said Katie Brennan, 31, chief of staff of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency. She described the actions of several of Mr. Murphy's staff as unacceptable.
Reports of allegations of sexual assault alleged by Ms. Brennan against Albert J. Alvarez were raised last week, but Ms. Brennan made her charges public in an article in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. After the publication of the article, Ms. Brennan issued a statement.
In response, Mr. Murphy and his wife, Tammy, issued their own statement, stating that they thought the administration had handled the charges appropriately. But they also said that his transitional team had made a mistake in hiring Mr. Alvarez, who resigned suddenly recently as chief of staff of the School Development Authority, who is busy building the building. schools.
"We are confident that this allegation has been handled appropriately by the administration and that the policies and procedures in place have been correctly and quickly followed," said the governor and his wife. "However, it is clear that the process during the transition was inconsistent with our values and that the hiring should not have taken place. We must now ask: how can we stick to a higher standard to go forward?
Mr. Murphy is scheduled to hold a press conference Monday afternoon and the Alvarez affair is sure to be addressed.
In a Wall Street Journal article, Mr. Alvarez, through a lawyer, denied Ms. Brennan's allegation. He did not answer several phone calls. Mrs. Brennan, who lives in Jersey City, had originally submitted her allegations to the Hudson County District Attorney's Office, which had refused to lay charges.
In her statement, Ms. Brennan called for changes in the way New Jersey deals with allegations of sexual assault, including removing the statute of limitations for civil actions related to sexual assault.
"I decided to speak because I know that Al Alvarez and all of his perpetrators must be held accountable for their actions, that they must never again rape and that the justice system has need a complete change with regard to sexual violence, "said Ms. Brennan.
Ms. Brennan described the alleged assault in detail in the Journal article, which took place last April, during Mr. Murphy's campaign. At the time, she was not involved in the campaign, while Mr. Alvarez was the director of the campaign for the sensitization of the Latin populations.
Ms. Brennan stated that she had spent "a full year pursuing a criminal case before ending up in a stalemate".
She also tried to solve the problem directly with Mr. Murphy by sending him an email asking him to discuss in a "sensitive manner" that had occurred during the campaign. In response, he responded by saying that "we are there" and asking his campaign lawyer, Jonathan Berkon, to act on this recommendation.
Last week, while reports were alleging allegation against Mr. Alvarez, Republicans of the state legislature began to demand the holding of legislative hearings on the practices of the state. hiring Murphy administration. Democratic legislators have expressed concern over the allegations, but have not yet called an audience.
Tom Malinowski, Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives of New Jersey, issued a statement late Sunday night, criticizing the handling of the charges by the governor's transition team.
"The knowledge of the transition incident should have triggered a much more thorough examination before the alleged abuser was hired," Malinowski said. "The fact that the prosecutors chose not to initiate criminal proceedings should not have settled the case, and this has left too many people involved to look away."
Murphy is scheduled to visit Germany and Israel on Monday night for a nine-day trade mission. His first manager oversees the trip as governor.
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