The chairman of a Manhattan community board is facing demands for his removal after calling a local district leader a misogynistic slur during an election night party last week, the Daily News has learned.
Jeffrey LeFrancois, the chair of Community Board 4, which spans a section of Manhattan’s West Side, called Hell’s Kitchen District Leader Marisa Redanty a “c–t” as part of a heated exchange they got into while at Democratic Assembly candidate Tony Simone’s election victory party in Chelsea on June 28, Redanty said.
“With all that’s going for us as women and our rights being taken away, enough is enough,” Redanty said Tuesday, a reference to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent abortion rights ruling. “We don’t live in times where you get to say this with impunity.”
LeFrancois, who’s also the executive director of Manhattan’s Meatpacking Business Improvement District, acknowledged to The News late Tuesday that he used the offensive term in the confrontation with Redanty. But he also alleged he felt “provoked by Marisa who was using abusive language toward me.”
“I should not have responded in kind, and for that, I apologize,” LeFrancois said.
LeFrancois declined to elaborate on what Redanty allegedly told him. Instead, he pointed to a February 2021 statement issued by the Hell’s Kitchen Democrats — which he used to be the secretary for — that accused Redanty of “bullying and abuse” against members of the club.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine’s office has jurisdiction over community board appointments, and Redanty said she’s considering filing a formal complaint with the BP in hopes that it will trigger an investigation into LeFrancois.
A spokesman for Levine said the office had as of Tuesday afternoon not received a complaint from Redanty.
Former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who served as Manhattan borough president between 2006 and 2013, said Redanty told him about the incident with LeFrancois after it happened. Stringer urged Levine to investigate the matter and potentially take steps to strip LeFrancois of his chairmanship.
“The borough president should investigate these very serious allegations and then act accordingly. When I was borough president I had zero tolerance for this type of behavior,” Stringer said. “This is just not acceptable.”
Redanty alleged last week wasn’t the first time LeFrancois hurled the vulgar insult at her.
In 2018, Redanty said LeFrancois called her the harsh phrase over the phone after he became upset when she left early from a Hell’s Kitchen Democrats meeting he was hosting.
The spat at Simone’s election night party last Tuesday was in reference to that years-old incident, Redanty said.
“At this event, he was standing with a few other friends of mine, and I walked up to speak with them,” she said, adding that she then told LeFrancois she still felt offended that he never apologized for the 2018 incident.
In response, LeFrancois told her, “And you are still a c–t,” Redanty alleged.
Sonia Ossorio, executive director of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women, expressed shock that LeFrancois would use language like that considering his professional capacities.
“It’s shocking and deeply disappointing that someone who has such important roles representing communities in New York City would speak so disparagingly about anyone. It’s a misogynistic label of the worst order,” Ossorio said. “It’s absolutely unacceptable and puts into question his fitness to represent New Yorkers.”
