Ex-Sen. President Stan Rosenberg Resigns Amid Controversy

BEACON HILL, MA — Former Senate President Stan Rosenberg will resign Friday following pressure from a chorus of voices - including his own longtime colleagues and the governor - called for him to step down in the wake of the Senate Ethics Committee report released Wednesday.

Investigators described Rosenberg as having a "significant failure of judgment and leadership" in connection with allegations that his husband attempted to influence decisions at the State House. Despite Rosenberg's original claims he maintained a strict "firewall" between his husband and State House dealings, the Senate Ethics Committee on Wednesday released a 77-page report that found Rosenberg by allowing his then-husband, Bryon Hefner, "unfettered" access to his official email, violated IT policy. The report said he didn't break any rules, however.

The report found that Rosenberg "undermined the goal of the Senate's anti-harassment policy to promote a workplace free from sexual and other forms of discriminatory harassment because he knew or should have known that Hefner had racially and sexually harassed Senate employees and failed to address the issue adequately," the committee said.

"As I have stated repeatedly over the past 5 months, I deeply regret the difficulties that this situation has created," Rosenberg said in a statement released Thursday.

House Minority Leader Brad Jones, as well as Democrat Sens. Barbara L'Italien of Andover, Paul Feeney of Foxborough, John Keenan of Quincy, James Welch of West Springfield and Jamie Eldridge of Acton have joined the governor and attorney general and others in calling for the Amherst Democrat to step down.

Sen. Jaime Eldridge, in a Facebook post, went further and said the Ethics Committee should recommend harsher punishment for Rosenberg.

The committee recommended the former Senate president not be allowed to hold any leadership posts or committee chairmanships this term or next, a recommendation that would enable Rosenberg to continue his service in the Senate if voters in his district re-elect him, according to Statehouse News.

Andover Republican Rep. James Lyons, posted on Facebook that Healey should investigate the Senate Democrats and said, "Every member of Rosenberg's leadership team should resign."

Former Sen. Benjamin Downing, a Democrat who last session served as Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee chair under Rosenberg, said in a tweet:

"Just finished reading the Senate Ethics Committee report. Public servants, especially those in leadership, must always be held to a higher standard. Senator Rosenberg should resign immediately."

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File photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch