The Monroe County Legislature voted Tuesday Night to fill a vacancy on the County’s Ethics Board, allowing it to move forward with an investigation of embattled Democratic Legislator Ernest Flagler-Mitchell. But Legislature President Joe Carbone would not allow discussion of the investigation into Flagler-Mitchell’s conduct, later saying there are two independent investigations underway, one by the Board of Ethics and one by the DIstrict Attorney. A statement says Carbone looks forward to the completion of these investigations.
Legislator Fagler-Mitchell skipped the meeting, which began with a reading of several letters from members of the public who claimed the accusation that Flagler-Mitchell sexually harassed a young woman was not an isolated incident.
One letter came from Rochester School Board Member Beatriz LeBron, writing in support of the young woman who says she received a sexually-explicit text from Flagler-Mitchell. The legislator says he intended the picture for his wife and mistakenly sent it to the young woman.
In the letter, and in a video on her Facebook page, LeBron says she believes the woman’s allegations because of an experience she, herself, had with Flagler-Mitchell. LeBron says when he was newly elected, Flagler-Mitchell sent her a late night text in which he said “I’m just getting out of the shower. I’m rubbing myself.”