Utica Mayor Resigns Amid Sex Allegations

The longtime mayor of Utica, who has been fighting allegations of sexual harassment by two former and two current male city employees, announced his resignation late Monday.

Edward A. Hanna, 78, said in a written statement that he was stepping down because of “my serious heart condition along with my age.”

“Regretfully it is strictly a health decision to bring my work as mayor to a close,” he said. “As some already know, I have had chest pains, which have occurred more frequently during the past months.”

The Republican, a self-made millionaire who funds his own campaigns, has never minced words. Two years ago he referred to the City Council as a “childish collection of mindless babblers who act without any coherent or cogent vision for this city.”

The sexual harassment allegations were made in June in notices of claim, which precede a lawsuit. The four men allege their employment was tied to their responses to the mayor’s advances.

At the time, Hanna denied the allegations, calling them part of a “cleverly orchestrated conspiracy to extort money, including political rewards and control.”

Hanna was first elected mayor in 1973, served two terms and was elected comptroller in the early 1990s. He was reelected mayor in 1995 and again in 1999.

Utica, an old manufacturing city of 59,300, had a population of about 90,000 in the 1970s before a long economic decline.

“I would hope to be remembered as a mayor who had eyes that could see what needed to be done and a heart that cared,” Hanna said.