Vito Lopez and his Hour-of-Power

New York Crains Business
by Chris Bragg
April 4, 2013

Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez has formed a campaign committee to raise money for a possible run for City Council, records show.

For months, there has been speculation that Mr. Lopez, who is embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, might run for the seat being vacated by term-limited Brooklyn Councilman Diana Reyna. Mr. Lopez also has said that he is suffering from serious health problems, which has made him less eager to stay in the Assembly. Mr. Lopez recently said he was battling thyroid cancer and two new growths on his brain.

The sexual harassment complaints came from at least four women, two of whom received financial settlements from the Assembly. Both the state ethics panel, JCOPE, and a the Staten Island district attorney's office are investigating. Mr. Lopez could not immediately be reached for comment. Mr. Lopez stepped down as Brooklyn Democratic leader last year amid the allegations.

Several candidates are currently running for the council seat, including Antonio Reynoso, Ms. Reyna's chief of staff, who has lined up widespread labor support. Ms. Reyna is a former chief of staff for Mr. Lopez but the two have been at odds for years.

New York Daily News
by Erin Durkin
April 4, 2013

Pervy pol Vito Lopez has launched a campaign committee for a run for the City Council. The fundraising committee, Vito Lopez for City Council, was registered Thursday with the State Board of Elections, a spokesman said.

Lopez is gunning for a Brooklyn seat being vacated by term-limited Councilwoman Diana Reyna, a long-time foe. Lopez did not immediately return calls for comment. He listed his campaign treasurer as aide Andy Marte, who also did not return calls.

Lopez is accused of sexually harassing at least four female staffers - and his leering of a 14-year-old intern so alarmed the mother of one of the staffers that she called the police. Lopez is being probed by Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan for possible criminal misdeeds.

He has not yet registered with the city Campaign Finance Board, a spokesman said. He’d face off in the Council race against Antonio Reynoso, Reyna’s chief of staff, who has already racked up major endorsements.

New York Daily News
by Ken Lovett
April 1, 2013

Friday marks the initial deadline the state legislative ethics commission faced to take action based on a report about pervy Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez. But don’t expect anything just yet.

Despite criticism, Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan has not lifted his request that the commission stand down until his office completes a related criminal probe into Lopez, who has been accused of sexual harassment by four former staffers. “The ethics commission is complying with that request, pursuant to statute,” said commission Executive Director Lisa Reid.

A Feb. 13 report by the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics is said by sources to “eviscerate” Lopez by revealing a pattern of sexual harassment that goes back years.

JCOPE sent its findings to the state legislative ethics commission for possible sanctions. Unless a prosecutor asks for a hold, the commission has 45 days from the date of receiving the report to take action. A Donovan rep wouldn’t say when his probe might conclude.

New York Post
by Erik Kriss
March 29, 2013

Albany -- Under fire for sex-harassment charges, State Assemblyman Vito Lopez is planning a political strategy session with allies next week that could propel him toward a run for City Council ­-- or retirement by the end of the year.

At the state Capitol yesterday to vote on the new state budget, the ex-Brooklyn Democratic boss --­ who is battling thyroid cancer and two new growths on the brain --­ strongly hinted he’ll either run for City Council in November or retire from the Assembly by the end of the year.

“It is increasingly more difficult for me to travel back and forth to Albany,” said Lopez (right), facing ethics and criminal investigations into allegations that he sexually harassed female Assembly aides last year.

“In the last eight months, I’ve gotten pneumonia twice,” Lopez said in the Assembly. “I’m continuing to have cancer-related problems, and I find it extremely difficult to sustain even another year here.”

New York Daily News
A source tells The Daily News that the assemblyman, who plans to run for City Council despite battling cancer and recent bouts of pneumonia, would not not testify before the Joint Commission on Public Ethics at the urging of his lawyer. The interviews were being done in conjunction with a separate criminal probe by Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan.
by Kenneth Lovett
March 29, 2013

ALBANY --­ Assemblyman Vito Lopez refused to testify before a state ethics commission probing allegations of his pervy behavior because of a related criminal probe, a source close to Lopez told the Daily News.

The source insists Lopez did not testify before the Joint Commission on Public Ethics at the urging of his lawyer because the interviews were being done in conjunction with the criminal probe by Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan.

The source said Lopez’s lawyer told the ethics commission that the assemblyman would “come in and talk to JCOPE only, but they said ‘no.’”

Spokesmen for JCOPE and Donovan had no comment.

Lopez was accused by four former staffers of sexual harassment. The state Assembly Ethics Committee in August looked at two of the complaints and found them credible, prompting Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to stripped the once-powerful Brooklyn Democrat of his legislative perks and seniority and triggering the larger ethics and criminal probes.

City and State
by Aaron Short
March 28, 2013

A Brooklyn nonprofit under investigation by the city and the federal government for its ties to Assemblyman Vito Lopez received $63,337 from the state in this year’s budget – but it wasn’t a new member item.

Lawmakers stopped getting discretionary funding for their districts in 2009, but a residual pot of money remains. The Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council obtained a $1.9 million grant in 2004 to construct its youth center. The last of the grant is trickling through this year, according to the charity’s CEO James Cameron. “It’s way before my time,” he said. “When I heard about it, I was hoping it was a new grant that I didn’t know about.”

New York Daily News
The former Brooklyn Democratic party boss was already battling cancer but doctors have yet to determine if the growths on his brain are cancerous
by Kenneth Lovett
March 28, 2013

Albany -- Embattled Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez is facing a major new health crisis, he told the Daily News. Already fighting cancer, Lopez said doctors have found two new growths on his brain and are trying to determine if those growths are cancerous. Doctors are looking for a way to do a biopsy without opening the veteran assemblyman’s skull, he said.

The former Brooklyn Democratic party boss is facing ethics and criminal probes in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal involving four young female staffers last year. He stepped down from his party boss position in the wake of the scandal but was re-elected to his assembly seat in November.

Lopez hasn’t been seen often in Albany this year but returned to the capital Thursday to vote on the state budget after recovering from a weeks-long bout of pneumonia.

Lopez was first diagnosed with cancer in 1993 and was retreated for a reoccurrence in 2010. He told the Daily News he has thyroid cancer that has spread to his pituitary gland.

Wall Street Journal
by Laura Nahmias
March 25, 2013

A Brooklyn social-services network that has been the subject of investigations by the city, state and federal governments and has close ties to Assemblyman Vito Lopez is poised to receive nearly $2 million under New York's latest budget deal.

The $1.9 million grant to the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council is part of an Albany tradition known as a "member item," an earmark with an anonymous sponsor slated for a nonprofit group. The grant would pay for the council's "community youth capital construction program," the purpose of which isn't described in the budget.

Lawmakers plan to vote this week on the item, part of a 1,023 page Aid to Localities budget bill. The grant's sponsor wasn't disclosed.

Mr. Lopez, a Brooklyn Democrat who was censured last year on accusations of sexual harassment, founded Ridgewood Bushwick in 1976 to provide housing and social services for low-income and elderly residents on the Brooklyn-Queens border. The group's $120 million budget is largely funded by the city, state and federal governments, but generally for services rendered. Mr. Lopez no longer has an official role at the council.

New York Daily News
The beseiged 71-year-old former Brooklyn Democratic Party boss has been accused of sexually harassing interns in his Assembly office, even suggesting that one of his office hands dress sexier ­ like his former 14-year-old intern, according to sources.
by Kenneth Lovett
March 10, 2013

Albany -- Pervy Assemblyman Vito Lopez found a 14-year-old intern so sexy that he fantasized aloud about living in a state where it was legal to sleep with underage girls, a source told the Daily News.

After ogling the girl, the 71-year-old Brooklyn Democrat relayed his twisted lament over New York’s statutory rape laws to at least one person from his district office, the source said.

The creepy comment comes to light days after the Daily News revealed that the mother of a Lopez staffer called the police after he told the staffer she should dress sexier ­ like the teenaged intern.

“It just gets more and more horrifying with this guy,” said one insider. “God only knows what’s inside that (state ethics commission) report” on Lopez.

New York Daily News
The Brooklyn assemblyman allegedly told staffer Chloe Rivera that the liked the way a teen intern ­ the daughter of a Brooklyn judge ­ dressed and encouraged Rivera to dress 'sexy' at work.
by Rocco Parascandola, Reuven Blau and Glenn Blain
March 7, 2013

The worried mother of a Vito Lopez staffer was so alarmed by the pervy Brooklyn assemblyman’s sleazy comments about a 14-year-old intern that she called the cops, the Daily News has learned.

Police received a 911 call on July 16 last year from the concerned mom of 24-year-old Chloe Rivera after the staffer said she saw Lopez ogling a young intern ­ the daughter of a Brooklyn judge.

Rivera also called the cops, who logged the call as a “sex harassment/child abuse” complaint.

“(Lopez) was telling Chloe that he liked the way this girl was dressed and she was dressed in a very sexy way,” said a source with knowledge of the call. “He wanted Chloe to dress like the intern.”

Police declined to file charges against the then-powerful Brooklyn Democratic Party boss, but the incident led to his downfall.