A former Assemblywoman who had an affair with a staffer will face no fines or other punishment after reaching a settlement with the state ethics commission.
Angela Wozniak acknowledged that she violated the state’s public officers law by “making certain personnel decisions” pertaining to her former legislative director, Elias Farah, after the pair engaged in a consensual sexual relationship, according to an agreement made public Thursday by the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

Farah accused the Buffalo Republican of coercing him into the affair and retaliating against him after he ended it.
Wozniak, now 32, was sanctioned and admonished by the Assembly in 2016 over the incident, but the in-house investigation didn’t reach a consensus on whether the relationship could be considered “quid pro quo sexual harassment.”
Angela Wozniak admitted to JCOPE she violated Public Officers Law by making certain personnel decisions related to her Director of Legislation, Elias Farah after having engaged in a brief consensual sexual relationship.

In September of 2016, Farah commenced a civil lawsuit against Wozniak.
JCOPE investigators say the relationship between Wozniak and Farah began consensually in 2015.
Farah said he tried to break things off, but Wozniak resisted. Wozniak ultimately ended the sexual component of her relationship with Farah after she told her husband of the affair.
She banned Farah from working in the district office and Wozniak falsely disparaged him, investigators said.
“The ethics committee unanimously agrees that Assembly Member Wozniak retaliated against her director of legislation by tarnishing his reputation to the person who had recommended him, and through her counsel identifying him by name to the press as the complaining party, as well as making other statements to the press that are reasonably likely to harm the director of legislation’s reputation in express violation of the ethics committee’s explicit notice to refrain from any breach of confidentiality,” said investigators. 

The one-time rising conservative star decided not to seek reelection that same year.

A lawsuit file by Farah that names Wozniak, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and the state is still pending.
Wozniak was elected to replace former Assembly Member Dennis Gabryszak after he resigned from office amid investigations into his own sexual misconduct in the work place.
In 2015, JCOPE issued a Substantial Basis Investigation Report with findings against Gabryszak for inappropriate sexually-charged conduct and improperly using State resources for a re-election campaign.
The LEC ultimately fined Gabryszak $100,000 in the wake of that investigation report.
The former politician was sentenced to two months in prison for trying to cover up the incident and agreed to pay a $10,000 fine after entering into a settlement with a pair of state ethics agencies.