Inquiry Ordered Into Hiring of Top Murphy Official Accused of Sexual Assault as Trenton Reels

NEWARK, N.J. — Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey on Monday worked to quell the controversy engulfing his administration after a woman who accused a top official of sexual assault faulted the administration’s response, saying “I have received no justice,” while Democrats in the Legislature demanded “a full accounting of what occurred.”

In a 33-minute news conference, a visibly upset Murphy said he was “sick to his stomach” after learning about the allegations and ordered an investigation into his administration’s hiring of Albert J. Alvarez, the official accused of sexual assault by Katie Brennan, a volunteer for Murphy’s campaign.

The investigation will focus on why Alvarez was hired after members of Murphy’s transition team were made aware of the allegations. The governor also said he was directing the state’s Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action office to review how allegations of sexual misconduct are handled.

Brennan, 31, made her first public statements on the matter Sunday, calling for major changes to how New Jersey deals with allegations of sexual assault.

“I feel awful for Katie,” the governor said at a news conference. “Nobody deserves this. She’s been screaming out for help and she didn’t get it. And whether it’s reviewing the laws, the policies, who did what when, criminal justice reform, we’re just not good enough.”

But as he departs on a nine-day trade mission to Germany and Israel, his first overseas trip as governor, Murphy leaves behind a state capital in New Jersey roiled by Brennan’s accusations.

Top Democratic leaders have been openly critical of the administration and Republican leaders are calling for a full-scale legislative investigation.

Loretta Weinberg, the Senate majority leader, announced that she would move to form a legislative committee to investigate how sexual assault allegations are handled by law enforcement agencies, the criminal justice system and state government.

“There is no doubt that the system failed Ms. Brennan, and that the failures occurred at every level,” said Weinberg in a statement.

Murphy said Peter G. Verniero, a former justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court who now works for a law firm, will oversee the investigation. The governor said he planned to speak with Brennan later Monday.

Reports of Brennan’s allegations of sexual assault surfaced last week, but Brennan made her accusations public in an article in The Wall Street Journal published online Sunday. After the article’s publication, Brennan released a statement in which she criticized Murphy’s administration.

“Several senior level members of the Murphy administration were aware of my assault and failed to take meaningful action,” said Brennan, chief of staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency. She called the actions of several members of Murphy’s staff “unacceptable.”

In response, Murphy and his wife, Tammy, issued their own lengthy statement, saying that they believed the administration had handled the accusations appropriately. But they also said that his transition team had made a mistake in hiring Alvarez, who recently abruptly resigned as the chief of staff at the Schools Development Authority, which deals with school construction.

“I wish we hadn’t made the hire in transition, period,” Philip Murphy told reporters. “I’m sick to my stomach once I heard what happened.”

The governor maintained that he had not been aware of Brennan’s allegations until Oct. 2, when The Wall Street Journal provided information about its findings to his office. But Murphy said that he believed his administration had handled the allegation appropriately once it was brought to the attention of his chief counsel, Matt Platkin, in March.

“These processes, within government at least, are confidential and treated confidentially,” Murphy said. “And that’s for a reason, to make sure that there’s a fairness associated with it. That you’re not, even inadvertently, putting your hand on the scale. I believe in this case it obviously was followed because we did not hear about it until Oct. 2.”

In The Wall Street Journal article, Alvarez, through a lawyer, denied Brennan’s allegation. He did not respond to several phone calls. Brennan, who lives in Jersey City, had originally brought her allegations to the Hudson County District Attorney’s office, which declined to bring charges.

On Monday, the Attorney General’s office announced that it had directed the Middlesex County District Attorney to review the case file after officials said that Esther Suarez, the Hudson County prosecutor, examined it this month and realized that she knew both parties.

The Attorney General’s office said it made the decision “out of an abundance of caution'’ to avoid any suggestion of a conflict of interest.

Brennan, in her statement, called for changes in how New Jersey handles sexual assault allegations, including eliminating the statute of limitations on civil action related to sexual assault.

“I decided to come forward because I know that Al Alvarez, and all perpetrators, must be held accountable, must never rape again, and the justice system needs a complete change with regard to sexual violence,” Brennan said. Brennan described the alleged assault in graphic detail in the Journal article, which she said occurred last April, during Murphy’s campaign. At the time, she was not involved in the campaign, while Alvarez was the campaign’s director for Latino outreach.

After a social outing with Murphy campaign workers, Brennan said in her account to The Wall Street Journal, Alvarez offered to drive her home, and then asked if he could go use her bathroom and have a drink of water. Once inside, Alvarez forced himself on top of her, groping her and penetrating her with his fingers.

She was eventually able to kick Alvarez off and escape, locking herself in the bathroom.

Brennan said she spent “an entire year pursuing a criminal case before hitting a dead end.”

She also made an attempt to address the matter directly with Murphy, sending him an email asking to discuss a “sensitive manner” that had occurred during the campaign, though she did not include any mention of her allegations. In response, he wrote back stating that “we are on it” and instructing his campaign counsel, Jonathan Berkon, to follow up.

Last week, as reports emerged about the allegation against Alvarez, Republicans in the state Legislature began calling for legislative hearings into hiring practices by the Murphy administration. Democratic lawmakers expressed concern over the allegations, but have not yet called for hearings.

Tom Malinowski, a Democratic candidate for a House seat in New Jersey, issued a statement late Sunday night, criticizing the governor’s transition team’s handling of the allegations.

“Knowledge of the incident by the transition should have triggered significantly greater scrutiny before the alleged assailant was hired,” Malinowski said. “That prosecutors chose not to pursue criminal charges should not have settled the matter, and it let too many involved look the other way.”