Thursday, May 16, 2013

Vito probe closed

From the NY Post:

State Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who was accused of groping young female staffers, is not expected to be charged criminally following a months-long investigation, The Post has learned.

Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, who is operating as a special prosecutor, is expected to announce today that his investigation didn’t find enough evidence to charge Lopez, sources told The Post.

The harassment allegations lodged by two Lopez staffers last summer led to the revelation that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had quietly authorized a payment of $103,000 in taxpayer funds to settle previous allegations by two other women against Lopez.

The controversy rocked the state’s political hierarchy and sparked an investigation by the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

In February, the commission issued a scathing 58-page report to the Legislative Ethics Commission and Donovan, who asked the LEC not to release it until his investigation into the allegations was finished.

With Donovan’s probe complete, the LEC is expected to release the report as early as today. The report was so explicit in outlining how Silver’s staff handled the allegations that members of the LEC asked JCOPE to redact it.


From the Politicker:

Although Assemblyman Vito Lopez was cleared of criminal charges today, the same can not be said of a highly-revealing report from the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics–which concluded that Mr. Lopez fostered a shockingly sordid work environment in clear violation of official standards of conduct.

In the scathing 68-page report, Mr. Lopez–who was stripped of his powerful committee chairmanship and his position atop the Brooklyn Democratic Party after sexual harassment allegations first surfaced last year—engaged in such acts as hanging mistletoe in his district office and forcibly kissing a staffer, shoving his hand “all the way up” the inner thigh of another staffer and more. Mr. Lopez has insisted he’s done nothing wrong.

With minimal paraphrasing, Politicker has compiled some of the most shocking findings detailed in the JCOPE report...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

UNREAL!!!! Sheldon silver needs to get his ass pounded a few times.....

Anonymous said...

Hey Shelly. What's the real story?

Anonymous said...

It remains a mystery to me as why a city that considers itself so informed on things like music and shoes and food still puts up third string morons in public office - knuckleheads that I may add have such bumbling impact on people's lives.

Anonymous said...

What a pig.

Anonymous said...

Vito a piece of crap for sure.

Anonymous said...

Politics...a punch bowl full of turds!

Eyewitless Nudes said...

From Eyewitness News Friday, May 17, 2013
New York Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who is accused of sexual harassment, has announced his resignation effective at the end of the current session. Lopez would have resigned anyway as he pursues a spot on the New York City Council, but the move comes as Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was set to introduce legislation recommending that state lawmakers expel Lopez. Watch Eyewitness News at Noon for the latest from political reporter Dave Evans.