Vito Lopez and his Hour-of-Power

New York Post
by Josh Margolin and Sally Goldenberg
February 27, 2013

As his grip over one of the most powerful Democratic machines in New York was slipping away last summer, Assemblyman Vito Lopez tried to hang on to power by bullying women on his staff to help him whitewash a looming sex-harassment scandal, The Post has learned.

As soon as complaints against Lopez began to pile up, the assemblyman forced his reluctant female staffers to write fawning and admiring notes about him to create a paper trail that would “cover his tracks.”

The letters, e-mails and text messages that were offered up as part of his defense during an ethics probe sang Lopez’s praises, saying how great he was and how eager the staffers were to work or travel with him, sources said.

“Only a fool would believe any of these women would want to be within a mile of this pervert,” said a source briefed on the evidence. “It was an apparent attempt to create a paper trail to show they were ‘wanted’ advances.”

New York Times
by Danny Hakim and William K. Rashbaum
February 26, 2013

A special prosecutor conducting a criminal investigation of a sexual harassment scandal involving Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez has asked the New York State Legislature not to release a report drafted by the state ethics commission.

Douglas Auer, a spokesman for Daniel M. Donovan Jr., the special prosecutor, said Tuesday that he would not discuss the report or where the special prosecutor’s investigation stands. But he did confirm that Mr. Donovan had requested that no action be taken on the report and that it not be released until his investigation was completed. “A letter was sent out,” Mr. Auer said, adding that it “asks that the report not be released because our investigation is still ongoing.”

The state ethics report is said to include descriptions of inappropriate touching by Mr. Lopez of his female aides that goes beyond what was previously known. It remains unclear, however, if there are sufficient grounds for any criminal charges to be brought against him.

Albany Times Union
by Jimmy Vielkind
February 19, 2013

Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Brooklyn Democrat in the cross hairs of legislative ethics officials, has pneumonia, his office said in a statement.

Lopez allegedly groped some of his female staffers, and was censured after the Assembly Ethics Committee substantiated allegations leveled against him by two former aides. It was also revealed that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver authorized a $103,000 settlement for earlier claims brought by aides. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics concluded its investigation into the Assembly’s handling of the entire matter last week.

Lopez has said he did nothing wrong. Here’s the latest statement:

"Assemblyman Vito Lopez was diagnosed last week with pneumonia, for the 2nd time in 9 months. The pneumonia has caused Assembly Vito Lopez to be extremely fatigued and seriously mobility limited. The recuperation period is anticipated to be 4-8 weeks and possibly longer due Assembly Lopez diminished immune system and deteriorating health."

Is this the start of a resignation watch? It’s certainly a good reason to avoid the press next week. Is it also on excuse for Lopez to start serving the good people of Williamsburg and Bushwick in a capacity that requires less of a commute?Like a run for the City Council seat he’s been reportedly eying?

New York Post
by Salloy Goldenberg
February 14, 2013

A new report “exonerates” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver of any wrongdoing in regard to the sexual-harassment allegations against Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

According to Silver’s spokesman, the report indicates that the speaker will be cleared of any legal misconduct in the ongoing investigation.

“As we have said throughout, we are confident that the commission found no legal or ethical violation by Speaker Silver or his staff and urge the Legislative Ethics Commission to release the report immediately,” said Silver spokesman Michael Whyland.

The state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics yesterday passed the report about Lopez’s alleged misconduct to the Legislative Ethics Commission.

New York Daily News
The Joint Commission on Public Ethics submitted finding to pair of legislative panels. The results could lead to sanctions and perhaps even lead Lopez to get expelled.
by Kenneth Lovett and Glenn Blain
February 14, 2013

Albany -- The end may be near for pervy Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s career. A state ethics commission’s six-month probe into Lopez revealed years of “piggish” behavior by the boorish Brooklyn Democrat, sources said.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics sent its findings to two legislative panels Wednesday for possible sanctions, which could include a recommendation the Assembly expel Lopez, sources said.

Four women on his staff accused Lopez of sexual harassment, but the report found a “pattern of abuse” that goes back many years and involves numerous potential victims.

“It eviscerates Lopez,” a source familiar with the probe said. “It was years of piggish behavior.”

Lopez attorney Gerald Lefcourt said he was notified only Wednesday afternoon that JCOPE had completed its probe and had yet to see its findings.

Crains New York
by Chris Bragg
January 25, 2013

Assemblyman Vito Lopez's interest in running for the New York City Council appears to be renewed. On Friday afternoon, Mr. Lopez told The Insider that he would make a decision about a run in "two or three weeks." And after several weeks of trudging to Albany, Mr. Lopez, who said he skipped this week's legislative session to keep a series of doctors appointments in New York City, is strongly looking at a position closer to home.

"I will be evaluating whether I want to retire or whether I want to continue in politics and run for the City Council," Mr. Lopez said, adding that he did not enjoy the cold weather in Albany. Previously, Mr. Lopez has cited poor health as a reason he may not run for the council.

If he does run, Mr. Lopez said, he would have support, noting that "600" people showed up at his Christmas party this year. Mr. Lopez said a run would be for the seat currently held by Councilwoman Diana Reyna, which would require that he move into the district if he won.

New York Daily News
Lopez remains because the state Legislature is an immense incumbent-protection racket
October 29, 2012

As surely as the sun rises in the east, Vito Lopez has been boasting that he will cruise to a landslide reelection in November ­ despite being revealed as a serial perpetrator of sexual harassment.

And just as surely as the sun sets in the west, Lopez will be proven right as the residents of his Brooklyn state Assembly district cast ballots for him, as they have for decades.

Lopez is impervious to scandal, just the way former state Sen. Pedro Espada managed to keep his political career alive despite a litany of ethical breaches. Espada’s game ended when he was convicted of federal criminal charges. Nothing of that order has hit Lopez. In his case, the problem is not what is illegal but rather what is legal.

Like Espada, Lopez is a master at drawing on taxpayer money to bolster his political career, including being Democratic boss of Brooklyn before he quit last month. He remains the power behind the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a social services colossus that provides publicly-funded assistance in many forms to Lopez’s constituents, elderly and otherwise.

Newsday
August 30, 2012
by the Associated Press

Albany -- Women staffers who accused New York Assemblyman Vito Lopez of sexual harassment had originally sought $1.2 million in damages from public money before Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver negotiated a $103,000 settlement, according to emails obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

The records also show that Silver, accused by some of a cover-up to protect Lopez, had extensive help from outside the chamber in crafting the legal settlement that had been cloaked in a confidentiality agreement until Thursday. The records show Silver's counsel worked through three drafts of the settlement with staff from the Attorney General's Office and state Comptroller's Office.

The documents appear to show a larger role in the Assembly sex harassment settlement by the Attorney General's and Comptroller's offices than those offices previously stated. Spokesmen for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli have said lower-level workers had little say in the settlement and no power to question or stop it.

New York Post
by Sally Goldenberg, Rich Calder and Dan Mangan
August 31, 2012

Vito Lopez’s victims initially demanded $1.2 million from the Assembly to buy their silence ­ even though one of the two women was never groped or harassed by him, sources and documents say.

[Right] ACCUSER: Rita Pasarell, here at her home yesterday, appeared in a flier for a Vito Lopez foe after accepting payment from Lopez and the Assembly.

His ex-deputy chief-of-staff Rita Pasarell claimed only that she was working in a hostile environment, while co-plaintiff Leah Hebert said that, at most, he made inappropriate comments to her, a source said.

“Nothing was ever done to [Rita], nor did she ever claim that anything was ever done to her,” the source said.

But the Assembly got worried when celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred threatened to air all of Lopez’s dirty laundry to the media, the source said.

New York Times
by Danny Hakim
August 31, 2012

Albany -- The Staten Island district attorney, Daniel M. Donovan Jr., was named on Friday as a special prosecutor to investigate Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez of Brooklyn in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal.

The move came after the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, requested a special prosecutor to investigate Mr. Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic Party leader. Mr. Hynes recused himself after citing his own political ties to Mr. Lopez, who has supported his re-election campaigns.

The development deepened the legal troubles of Mr. Lopez and the State Assembly. The state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics has already begun its own preliminary review of the Assembly’s handling of sexual harassment claims made against Mr. Lopez and has scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday.

The investigation, Mr. Hynes said, was precipitated by the Assembly’s censure of Mr. Lopez, 71, on Aug. 24, after a bipartisan ethics committee found credible evidence that Mr. Lopez had groped, kissed and verbally harassed two female employees. It did not appear to be related to an earlier secret settlement of claims brought by two other women who had worked for Mr. Lopez.