Grabby Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s alleged sexual harassment habit appears to have cost taxpayers at least $103,080.
Our Blain, Durkin and I report:
That was the amount paid by the Assembly for a legal settlement on June 11, according to a payment voucher released Tuesday (which appears below) by the Assembly that had the name of the recipient redacted.
Assembly spokesman Michael Whyland refused to comment on whether the payment was related to sexual harassment charges against Lopez but noted that the voucher was released in response to reporters’ inquiries about the Brooklyn assemblyman.
“The Assembly searched its records and this is the only document that refers to a payment of a settlement agreement,” Whyland said.
Release of the voucher came as critics slammed Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver over news that he used taxpayer dollars to quietly settle a sexual harassment claim against Lopez this year — even before the bombshell harassment allegations that prompted Silver to strip Lopez of his seniority and leadership posts last week.
“There is something very disquieting about the use of taxpayer money to cover up the conduct of what appears to be a sexual predator,” said Susan Lerner of Common Cause NY.
The scandal broke on Friday when Silver released an Assembly ethics committee report that found Lopez had groped women on his staff.
The $103,080 settlement went to a third woman whose case never went to the ethics committee.
“The only instance in which a complaint would not be handled by the ethics committee would be if a victim insisted for reasons of personal privacy that it not go before the committee,” Whyland said. “The Assembly would only keep such a matter confidential at the express insistence of the victim.”
State GOP Chairman Ed Cox called it “absolutely wrong for public funds to be used for a settlement of a sexual harassment.”
Lopez, meanwhile, released a statement Monday calling the charges against him “unfair and untrue.” He urged his supporters to “not allow the media to determine” his fate.
“I have never forced myself on anyone, nor would I,” Lopez said in the statement.
Lopez’s denials, however, have done little to silence calls for his resignation.
After seven years ruling the Brooklyn Democratic party with an iron fist, Assemblyman Vito Lopez could lose control of the party, according to party insiders.
