A New York state ethics panel has found Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez, once one of the most powerful lawmakers in Albany, violated the state public authorities law and has referred the case to Assembly for action.
The report comes the same day Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, appointed last summer as a special prosecutor in the case, found Lopez's actions "alarming" but not criminal.
The 68-page report by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, known as J-COPE, offered lurid detail on Lopez's actions, including sustained abuse and bullying of female employees. Lopez suggested they wear mini skirts, demanded they spend time with him outside the office and tried to convince them to share hotel rooms during business trips, according to the report. Lopez even gave one of them pink eye after insisting she place drops in his eyes, it found.
The commission says Lopez "used the powers and perks of his position as a member of the Assembly to engage in knowing, willful, and prolonged mistreatment of certain female members of his Assembly staff," and that Lopez "engaged in a pervasive pattern of abuse of public office and resources."
It also criticized the way Lopez's case was initially settled, with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver quietly approving a financing settlement without disclosing the charges to voters. "There was no investigation into the allegations, nor were there any other measures taken to protect Lopez's remaining staff," the report said, noting that the initial settlement "shielded from public disclosure not just Lopez's conduct but even the fact that Lopez and the Assembly had settled a dispute relating to Lopez's conduct."
Although Lopez could be sanctioned by the Assembly, he won't face jail time. Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan acted as a special prosecutor to look into claims made by female members of the Brooklyn Democrat's staff. He says he did more than 50 interviews and found Lopez's conduct was inappropriate. But he said there was no basis to conclude a chargeable offense was committed in Brooklyn, where he had jurisdiction.
Donovan lambasted the New York State Assembly for approving secret harassment settlements. He said it "apparently encouraged him to continue his inappropriate conduct."
But Donovan said the settlement were not criminal acts.