Democratic Westchester County legislators ask their leader to step down

Members wrote a letter saying Chairwoman Catherine Borgia has guided the Board through historic, life-changing pieces of legislation, but they lost confidence in her ability to lead.

News 12 Staff

Apr 25, 2023, 12:13 AM

Updated 459 days ago

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Some Westchester County legislators are asking their leader to step down in the wake of allegations that a board aide tried to solicit a teenager.
The Democratic Caucus of the Board of Legislators are asking Chairwoman Catherine Borgia to resign.
Borgia says her employee Anand Singh was fired after he was caught on video allegedly sending lewd messages and photos to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
“These allegations are very serious…As a mother of daughters, I took this matter very seriously,” Borgia said. "I am always acting with the best intentions to do what is right for Westchester County residents."
However, her colleagues said in a statement, “While she has been a leader that has guided us through historic and life-changing pieces of legislation, we have lost confidence in her ability to lead this body and the staff that supports it."
Neither Borgia nor many of her Democratic colleagues on the Board returned calls from News 12 Monday.
James Nolan, the lone Republican on the board, told News 12, “Both caucuses have spoken and I hope it's respected…We took an oath. We took an oath to protect and serve our constituents and I feel that oath was broken."
He says Singh should've been fired sooner.
Borgia said in a video last week as soon as the allegations arose, she referred them to the county's Department of Public Safety.
"At the time, public safety was unable to substantiate the video existed,” she said.
Borgia said during the investigation, Singh was removed from public-facing duties and was terminated as soon as the video was released.
"We should've all been informed of what was going on from the beginning,” Nolan says.
He says he and other legislators and staff didn't find out until after Singh was fired. Now, he says he hopes soon the board will get back to where it needs to be.
Nolan also says the investigation is ongoing.
Borgia said last week she called on the FBI to investigate and found out the Bureau is looking into it.


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