CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. -- The attorney for Cheektowaga Assemblywoman Angela Wozniak said Thursday they sent Wozniak's phone, emails and copies of her hard drives to the Assembly Ethics Committee.
"Assemblywoman Wozniak has said she's got nothing to fear and she's directed me just to cooperate in turning over all of the evidence so we did that today," said Steven Cohen from HoganWillig Attorneys at Law.
Cohen said cooperating with the sexual harassment and retaliation claim against his client is about all they can do at this point.
"I have represented members of the United States Congress, military commanders in ethics investigations and never before have I not been given the charges that have been placed against my client and never before have I been told that I'm not allowed to investigate it," he said.
He said the accuser is Wozniak's former Legislative Director Elias Farah who also ran for Erie County Legislature in 2013. Sources tell Time Warner Cable News that Farah and Wozniak did have a sexual relationship at one point.
"Not knowing the details of the charges against the assemblywoman, I'm not going to comment on any of the substantive facts regarding this case. I haven't conducted my investigation yet because I don't know what it is I need to investigate," Cohen said when asked if there was a relationship.
Wozniak is 28 years old. She's married with a young child.
"She and her husband are bearing under the embarrassment of these kinds of allegations but both of them are confident that they're going to get through this," Cohen said.
The Republican legislator was elected to the historically Democratic 143rd Assembly seat less than a year ago. The seat was vacated by Dennis Gabryszak after a number of his staffers claimed sexual harassment.
"If you're asking whether I think the seat is haunted or tainted or cursed, I do not. I actually found Assemblyman Gabryszak to be an outstanding legislator," Cohen said.
He said he doesn't know if his client was in Western New York or Albany, Thursday, but she's still doing her job.
"She's continuing to run her district the way she's been, competently, thoroughly, aggressively, zealously," he said.
Cohen said the Ethics Committee has brought in law professor Merrick Rossein from the City University of New York Law School to lead the investigation. Wozniak is scheduled to be the last person he interviews on September 28.