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Queens councilmember calls for assemblymember’s resignation after sexual assault allegations
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Mar 14, 2023
Modified Mar 14, 2023
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Ron Adar/SOPA Images/Shutterstock; Juan Ardila for City Council Facebook page
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Mar 14, 2023
Modified Mar 14, 2023
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A city councilmember from Queens is calling for the resignation of a state assemblymember after a report alleging sexual assault allegations involving him.
Councilmember Robert Holden said Assemblymember Juan Ardila should step down from his role after two women accused him of sexual assault at a party in 2015, according to stories reported by the Queens Chronicle and Queens Eagle on Monday. The assemblymember did not return a request seeking comment, but the Chronicle reported that he issued a statement apologizing for his behavior saying, "I have spent time reflecting and I hope to prove I have matured since college. I'm committed to learning from this and I am able to demonstrate my own personal growth."
Holden, who ran against Ardila for his seat in the City Council in 2021, said the allegations were part of a pattern of behavior that shouldn’t be tolerated.
“Juan Ardila’s record of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, antisemitism, reckless driving, and now sexual assault has disqualified him from office,” Holden said in a statement. “We must hold our elected officials to the highest standards of integrity and morality, and Assembly Member Ardila, and all those who supported him and knew about these issues, have fallen far short of those standards.”
In spring of 2021, the New York Post reported that Ardila had deleted racist and anti-gay tweets from his teen years. The tabloid also reported the politician had received more than two dozen traffic violations.
Now, two women have come forward to local media outlets about the assemblymember’s alleged sexual assaults. As told in the Queens Chronicle:
“One of the victims, who requested anonymity, alleges that Ardila ‘got handsy’ with her on the couch at a small party of Fordham students and alumni in October 2015 while she was intoxicated. He then proceeded to lead her down a hallway, she said, at which point her friend intervened.
The same woman relayed to the Chronicle a message from a second woman detailing her alleged encounter with Ardila the same night; the account was written with the intention that it would be shared with a journalist. The second woman said Ardila pulled her into a bathroom and started kissing her. When she realized what was happening, she pulled away and saw Ardila had exposed himself and was touching himself. She immediately ran out of the room.”
On Tuesday afternoon, one victim also formally called for Ardila to step down, the Queens Chronicle reported.
City Councilmember Julie Won of Queens said one of her constituents had come forward with the reported allegations. She joined Holden in calling for the assemblymember's resignation later Tuesday evening.
“The harrowing recounts by my constituent who experienced sexual assault along with another woman is indefensible," Won said in a statement. "I believe the women who have courageously come forward and support her call for Juan Ardila’s resignation from the State Assembly. Unfortunately, many women reading and hearing my constituent’s story are all too familiar with gross sexual misconduct that has left many of us in years of trauma, shame, and anger. I stand in solidarity with my constituent and will continue to center the need for justice and accountability for those who have brought allegations forward.”
City Council candidate Hailie Kim of Queens also called for the assemblymember's resignation, describing the allegations as troubling.
"Contrary to demonstrating what the Assembly Member called 'personal growth,' what we are witnessing is an attempt to spin and minimize sexual assault accusations from two women," Kim said in a statement. "Mr. Ardila has yet to refute the substance of these accusations or offer a statement that demonstrates any understanding of the harm he is accused of causing. Whatever his version of these events end up being, it is clear that he cannot effectively represent his constituents. He should resign immediately."
This story has been updated with additional comment.
A previous version of this story misidentified Hailie Kim. She is a candidate seeking office in the City Council.
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Politics
Catalina Gonella
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