State Sen. Nicholas Sacco, left, poses for a photo with former North Bergen municipal employee Lydia Coleman, center, and former Gov. James McGreveey, right. Coleman has filed a sexual harassment complaint against Sacco.TRENTON — A former North Bergen municipal employee has filed an state ethics complaint against state Sen. Nicholas Sacco, who is also mayor of the township, saying he sexually harassed her during a two-year period starting in 2003.
The woman, Lydia Coleman, of Secaucus, said Sacco left four threatening and insulting voice mail messages after she rejected his advances in a bar in February 2003.
"You're a retard," Sacco allegedly says in the recording. "You better realize what you just did. It's scary that you would be that stupid."
The recordings were included in the complaint filed last week with the state Senate and sent to various news outlets.
Coleman said that after a night at a bar she was subjected to a hostile work environment but stayed at her job with the township's recreation department until 2005 because the pay was good.
In a telephone interview today, Coleman said she waited six years to file the complaint because she was scared of the powerful Sacco, who is also an assistant superintendent in the North Bergen School District.
Sen. Nicholas Sacco is shown in this June file photo. A Secaucus woman has accused the state senator of sexual harassment.Paul Swibinski, a spokesman for Sacco (D-Hudson), said the recordings appear "doctored," and that there were other issues, including financial difficulties, that called into question Coleman's credibility.
Coleman said she had financial difficulties and was injured in a car accident after moving from North Bergen, but that money was not a motivation in filing the complaint.
Swibinski also said two people helping Coleman with the complaint, including her attorney, Mario Blanch, have worked with a group of Sacco's political rivals that tried to oust him earlier this year.
"This appears to be a political smear job, period," Swibinski said.