Rabid Legislator Alert!

State Police are investigating an allegation that state Sen. Ada Smith, D-Queens, assaulted a staffer Tuesday morning in the Legislative Office Building.

Lt. Glenn Miner, a State Police spokesman, confirmed "we've been made aware of the allegations" but could not comment on the specifics or say whether an arrest of the 17-year incumbent is imminent.

Law enforcement sources said the staffer alleged Smith threw coffee in her face and pulled her hair. The alleged attack, according to a person familiar with the details of the complaint, happened after Smith returned from a Weight Watchers meeting and announced she had lost about four pounds, and the staffer remarked that she thought the senator would have lost more given her active lifestyle.

The staffer went to St. Peter's Hospital, complaining of eye damage and abrasions on her neck, the source said.

Smith's office said the staffer no longer works there. It had no immediate comment.

And it isnÂ’t like this is SmithÂ’s first tangle with the law.

Smith was found guilty in Albany City Court and ordered to pay $200 in 2004 for failing to obey a direct order from a police officer in May 2003. She refused to hand over her government ID and drove through a security checkpoint at an Empire State Plaza parking garage. A trooper said Smith cursed and sped off, refusing his order to stop.

Last year, Douglas Greene, a former chief of staff for Smith, asked Albany County District Attorney David Soares and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to investigate her for providing no-show and semi-show jobs and having staff work on political business. The state ethics commission had cleared her of any wrongdoing within its jurisdiction.

Smith was cleared last year by the state Division of Human Rights of accusations by another ex-chief of staff, Philip Wayne Mahlke, for racist remarks and firing him because he's gay.

Smith was also charged with biting a New York City Police officer's hand during a traffic dispute in 1998. In 1996, she was accused of threatening a former staff member with a knife. In both cases, Smith denied the charges.

You know, she may have even topped Sheila Jackson-Lee.

Posted by: Greg at 12:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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