Staten Islanders: Brooklyn Dem Chief Should Quit

By Tom Wrobleski
Staten Island Advance
August 25, 2012

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/staten_islanders_brooklyn_dem.html

The Assemblya??s bipartisan Committee on Ethics and Guidance found that member Vito Lopez, 71, also Brooklyn Democratic chairman, created a hostile workplace, including verbal and physical sexual abuse, and that his response to the allegations was "??not credible."??

Officials on Staten Island and elsewhere called for Assemblyman Vito Lopez to resign as Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman after the Assembly Committee on Ethics and Guidance found Friday that he violated the chamber's sexual harassment policy, and stripped him of his committee chairmanship and seniority.

"For the good of the party, he should step aside as party chairman," said state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn), whose district crosses into Kings County.

The bipartisan eight-member committee unanimously found that Lopez, 71, created a hostile workplace, including verbal and physical sexual abuse, and that his response to the allegations was "not credible."

Complaints by two staff members included repeated unwelcome comments about their bodies and attire, as well as attempts to kiss and put his hands between the legs of one of them when he required that she travel with him to Atlantic City, N.J., in July.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he accepted the findings.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) and Democratic Public Advocate Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn, called on Lopez to resign from the Assembly as well.

But Ms. Savino said that discussion was between Lopez "and the people who elected him."

She said the "findings are shocking. It's pretty bad."

Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-North Shore) stopped short of calling for Lopez to resign any of his posts.

But he said he, too, was shocked by the panel's findings.

"Very much so," he said. "I consider Vito Lopez a friend, but sexual harassment of any kind is not to be tolerated."

Borough Democratic chairman John Gulino declined to comment.

Ms. Savino said that the investigation was the "best-kept secret" in Albany.

"No one heard about it," she said. "There wasn't a whisper about any of these allegations."

Other incidents included Lopez putting his hand on a staffer's leg and after she removed it trying to put his hand between her thighs; holding a staffer's hand and playing with her hair; and requiring both to write to him about how much they loved their jobs and cared about him.

In a public censure letter to Lopez on Friday, Silver said he was removing him immediately as chairman of the Committee on Housing, banning him from any other leadership positions, reducing his staff allocation to freshman levels, requiring him to get supplemental sexual harassment training and prohibiting him from employing any staff under the age of 21, or interns.

"How effective can he be?" Ms. Savino asked of the severity of Lopez's legislative punishment.

Calls to Lopez weren't immediately returned.

Lopez was first elected to the Assembly in 1984. He has been a longtime leader of the Kings County Democratic Committee and is divorced with adult children.

Silver wrote to Lopez that the committee found "pervasive unwelcome verbal conduct by you toward both complainants" from June until they made their sexual harassment complaints in July and that the unwelcome verbal and physical conduct escalated over time.

Michael Whyland, Silver's spokesman, said there is no provision for an internal appeal. ?