The former aide accusing Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar of sexual harassment filed a new lawsuit against the City of L.A. Tuesday, claiming city officials are attempting to intimidate her and not giving her an impartial investigation.
Francine Godoy first filed a lawsuit on Oct. 17, accusing Huizar, her former boss, of waging a campaign of retaliation and harassment against her after she refused to provide sexual favors.
Huizar admitted having an affair with Godoy, who was working as his Deputy Chief of Staff. However, he called her allegations “false and malicious.”
After Godoy, filed her harassment complaint, City Council President Herb Wesson convened a Special Committee on Investigative Oversight to investigate the claims.
Godoy, who is pregnant, is asking a judge to block the city’s attempt to compel her to speak to an investigator today, one day before she is scheduled to have a caesarean section.
Attorney Michael Eisenberg says forcing his client to testify is a tactic being used “to gain an inappropriate advantage in the civil lawsuit, by attacking the victim of harassment.”
The Councilman was reportedly not sent a subpoena to testify. Robert Alaniz, a spokesman for the office of Walsh & Associates, says Huizar has volunteered to cooperate and appear before the committee and that Godoy’s new lawsuit is an attempt “to avoid pointed questions about her outrageous allegations.”
When finished with the investigation, the Committee will submit findings to Wesson and the City Council. The City Council will reportedly have sole authority for findings, conclusions and remedial actions.
This new lawsuit also claims an investigation by the City Council into the allegations will be neither fair nor impartial because of close personal ties between Wesson and Councilman Huizar.
Just last week, Wesson appeared at a fundraising event to kickoff Huizar’s 2015 re-election campaign. Wesson introduced the Councilman at the event, and said, “Mr. Huizar is like my brother, and he is my best friend on the Council. I trust him with my life. He does the same for me.”
Eisenberg has said Huizar is not the father of his client’s unborn child.
