New York Post writers Robert Hardt, Jr., William J. Gorta, and Maggie Haberman report on a lie detector “test” at issue in the New York City mayoral campaign. Excerpt:
November 5, 2001 — The mayoral race exploded yesterday, with Mark Green and Michael Bloomberg trading furious charges – and Green demanding his rival release the results of a lie-detector test Bloomberg took in connection with a sexual-harassment lawsuit.
At a press conference, Green waved around a copy of a now-settled harassment suit against Bloomberg and pressed the issue most of the day.
With the race in a virtual dead heat, Green called on Bloomberg to release the questions and answers from a polygraph he took earlier this year about whether he was telling the truth in the case.
He also accused Bloomberg of “silencing” the former employee who filed the suit, Sekiko Garrison. Bloomberg accused Green of a “smear.”
“Based on her words under oath, he said things in the workplace that are nearly disqualifying for someone to run for any office – certainly mayor,” Green said.
Garrison – who settled her case for an undisclosed amount of money under confidential terms before the race began – claimed Bloomberg suggested she “kill it!” when she told him she was pregnant.
Bloomberg yesterday again denied saying it, adding, “Who would make a comment like that?”
Asked about the lie-detector results as he toured Brooklyn’s Borough Park with former Mayor Ed Koch, Bloomberg said, “Oh, we did all that. He’s just making up something.”
At the beginning of the year, Bloomberg released a sworn letter from the man who gave the lie-detector test, saying Bloomberg answered all questions truthfully. But Bloomberg didn’t provide the raw data.