Lincoln Restler (Photo: Facebook)

District Leader Lincoln Restler, one of the most aggressive critics of Assemblyman Vito Lopez and his control of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, has jumped at the news of the sexual harassment allegations leveled against Mr. Lopez and has called on him to step down from the county organization.

"Given the severity of these allegations, which the New York Assembly has called 'credible,' Vito Lopez should immediately resign as Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman," Mr. Restler said in a statement. "I hope all responsible elected officials in Brooklyn will join me in calling for this action. It is clear we need a full and comprehensive investigation into whether this was a regular pattern of behavior in Vito Lopez's office."

(Of course, Mr. Restler, who has called Mr. Lopez "corrupt," probably didn't feel he was fit to run the county organization even before this news emerged.)

Mr. Restler is currently in a tough reelection battle against the Lopez-backed candidacy of Chris Olechowski, a community board chairman in Greenpoint. He won by only 121 votes last time and this year's campaign is likely to be close as well.

Also of note is that Mr. Lopez lost his chairmanship of the Assembly Housing Committee, which contributed to some of his political influence, including in various parts of Mr. Restler's district as well other competitive races. Whether or not this news will influence any votes before the fast-approaching September 13th primary date is unclear, as is the future Mr. Lopez's tenure atop Kings County Democratic politics.

Mr. Lopez is notoriously press-shy, but reporters are sure to be on his tail and he may end up commenting at point in the near future as the result.

Among the many allegations is that Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the powerful head of the Kings County Democratic Party, required some of his staff to write "about how much they loved their jobs and cared about [him]," and that he "criticized their notes for being insufficiently effusive."

Mr. Silver also wrote a letter to Mr. Lopez outlining the allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct. You can read those, as well as Mr. Silver's press release announcing the news below:

• That there was pervasive unwelcome verbal conduct by you toward both complainants from early June 2012 until the time they made complaints of sexual harassment in mid-July 2012, including repeated comments about their physical appearance, their bodies, their attire, and their private relationships;
• That the unwelcome verbal and physical conduct escalated over time;
• That there were multiple incidents of unwelcome physical conduct toward one complainant, wherein you put your hand on her leg, she removed your hand, and you then put your hand between her upper thighs, putting your hand as far up between her legs as you could go;
•  That you required one of the complainants to take a trip with you to Atlantic City in July 2012, and that you attempted to kiss her, that she struggled to fend you off before you stopped, and that on the drive back from Atlantic City you again put your hand between her legs; and
• That other incidents of unwelcome physical conduct occurred, including holding one complainant’s hand and playing with her hair.

The bi-partisan Assembly Committee on Ethics and Guidance today unanimously recommended that Assemblyman Vito Lopez be removed as Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Housing and forfeit his seniority after reviewing allegations of sexual harassment against him. The findings were delivered to Speaker Sheldon Silver who said he would immediately implement the recommendations.

“The bi-partisan Committee on Ethics and Guidance today delivered to me a report signed by all eight of its members finding that Assemblymember Vito Lopez violated the Assembly’s sexual harassment policy,” said Silver. “I have reviewed the report and will fully implement its recommendations. The members of the committee have fulfilled their obligation to independently and thoroughly review these allegations, and I thank them for their hard work.”

In its report to Speaker Silver, the committee found that Lopez created a hostile workplace which included both verbal and physical sexual abuse and determined that his response was not credible.

In a letter of admonition to Assemblyman Lopez, the Speaker said that he has accepted the findings of the committee and will fully implement its recommendations, including:

• Removing Lopez as Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Housing and banning him from any other committee chairmanship or leadership position;
• Reducing Lopez’s staff allocation through attrition to the amount reserved for a first term member and forfeiting his seniority in the Assembly;
• Requiring the Assemblyman to undergo supplemental sexual harassment training; and
• Prohibiting Lopez from employing staff under 21 years old or interns in his Assembly offices.

“The Assembly has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sexual harassment and we are committed to ensuring a safe and respectful workplace for all our employees,” said Silver. “The Committee on Ethics and Guidance has been diligent in thoroughly and fairly investigating the allegations made in this case and I will immediately implement its recommendations.”

Pursuant to Assembly Rules, the Assembly Committee on Ethics and Guidance is made up of an equal number of majority and minority members. The committee, chaired by Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, includes four Democrats and four Republicans.

View the letter below:

The DCCC wants to know what Sebastian knows and when he knew it. (Photo: Human Society)

Yesterday, Congressman Michael Grimm declared his love for his pooch Sebastian and encouraged his entire staff to bring their dogs to his Washington D.C. and district offices for Take Your Dog To Work Day, a fairly innocent and non-threatening endeavor. Nevertheless, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, always aggressively eager to highlight the serious fundraising allegations leveled against Mr. Grimm, has done it again and seized upon Mr. Grimm's puppy love to push their message.

"Congressman Grimm’s latest excuse not to talk about his legal and ethical problems?"  the DCCC proclaimed in a statement this morning, pumping up the news of the continuing FBI investigation. "He is too busy playing with his puppy, trying to lighten the mood of staffers worried about impending interviews with the FBI."

Josh Schwerin, a regional spokesman for the Democratic organization, proceeded to hypothesize on whether Sebastian was among those questioned by federal investigators.

“Today Congressman Grimm is taking time off from throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at his legal team to pretend the world is all puppies and rainbows,” he mused. “Unfortunately for Staten Island voters, Congressman Grimm’s record of voting to drastically cut Medicare is not nearly so sunny and will last long after the FBI finishes its investigation. Today’s event does raise one new question, has the FBI interviewed Congressman Grimm’s teacup yorkie yet?”

For his part, Mr. Grimm has discussed the fundraising allegations multiple times in previous months, and in a statement provided by his lawyer earlier this week, declared the ongoing FBI inquiry as unsurprising as he had brought the allegations to federal agencies himself when they first emerged.

"I look forward to a speedy resolution and am confident that I will be fully vindicated," he said.

(Photo: Getty)

From conversations in and around Congressman Michael Grimm's orbit, The Politicker has learned the FBI has been speaking to at least one individual about fundraising allegations against his 2010 campaign in the last couple weeks. One such person, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, confirmed that the FBI reached out to him to inquire on the matter.

This continues a New York Times story from earlier this year when the publication reported Mr. Grimm used a combination of straw donors and extortion to illegally raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaign. However, very little until now occurred in subsequent developments outside of an Associated Press report in early March that the FBI was "considering whether to open an investigation" into his fundraising.

"We are of course familiar with the FBI inquiry and we welcome the news that it is heading towards completion," Mr. Grimm, a former FBI agent himself, said in in a statement provided by his campaign's lawyer. "We contacted the Justice Department and other appropriate agencies immediately after the false allegations against me first appeared in an irresponsible New York Times story in January. I look forward to a speedy resolution and am confident that I will be fully vindicated. I’ve done nothing wrong and any fair and thorough inquiry will come to the same conclusion.”

This development could be related to the hefty legal bills -- to the tune of $321,000 -- Mr. Grimm's campaign shelled out since April 1st, even though the Times first broke the news in January.

Mr. Grimm currently running for reelection against Democrat Mark Murphy, whose campaign latched onto the previous news of his campaign's legal fees with sharp rhetoric.

“Michael Grimm’s struggling campaign has amassed more in legal bills 2 months than most Staten Island families earn in 3 years," Mr. Murphy's campaign manager told City & State. "$321,000 in lawyer’s fees can only mean that the allegations of illegal fundraising are very serious. Mike Grimm will do anything for the special interests that define his legislative record to pay his lawyers, and this debt pushes him further into questionable legal territory."

The FBI declined to comment on this story.

Anthony Weiner (Photo: Getty)

Yesterday evening, Roll Call broke the news that former Congressman Anthony Weiner said he reported Congressman Michael Grimm to the FBI in 2010 for potentially extorting money from Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto's congregation, something the New York Times' sources have alleged as well. “I can confirm the Rabbi did bring allegations to me and I can confirm that I turned them over to the FBI immediately,” Mr. Weiner told the publication.

Former Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari, a GOP power broker and political mentor to Mr. Grimm, decided to not take this latest set of charges sitting down and sent out a press release this afternoon attacking Mr. Weiner's claims in rather harsh terms.

“All of these baseless and fanciful allegations are supported of course by anonymous sources and a known liar and pervert," he argued in the statement. Mr. Weiner, of course, infamously resigned after a sexting scandal.

“I have been in this business for almost 50 years and I thought I’d seen it all, but the most recent allegations against Michael Grimm are so vile that I would be remiss not to draw attention to just how absurd they are and more importantly why and how they are being levied."

Mr. Molinari then blamed New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Steve Israel, the head of the House Democrats' campaign efforts, for the accusations flying in the media. In Mr. Molinari's view, the series of charges against Mr. Grimm are an orchestrated plot to not only defeat Mr. Grimm for reelection, but also to stop him from rising to even higher levels of public office.

"Chuck Schumer and Steve Israel don’t know what to do with Grimm as he continues to rise, so they have resorted to a coordinated smear campaign that is fraught with inconsistencies, innuendoes through anonymous sources and outright lies," he wrote. "Schumer and Israel fear that Grimm will have a big re-election victory that could catapult him to top contender status for a state-wide seat, possibly to challenge Schumer himself for the Senate or even governor"

Mr. Molinari presented a multipronged defense against Mr. Weiner's claims, pointing out alleged inconsistencies as well:

“Here in Staten Island no one will believe: 1) That a pervert and proven liar like Anthony Weiner would have damaging information in late 2010 about Grimm and not use it politically just before the election - that he wouldn’t at least leak it anonymously to the press, but rather hold the information for almost 17 months; or 2) That the FBI received a complaint from a sitting congressman (Rep. Weiner) and did nothing with the information. They never even questioned Grimm and then just a few weeks ago would give Grimm a ‘Good Guy’ letter stating that he left the FBI in good standing. Why would the FBI issue such a letter if Grimm was under any type of investigation? Lastly, the NY Times initially reported that the Rabbi claimed not to know that Grimm was so aggressively raising money yet now claims that Grimm extorted him, so why didn’t the Rabbi tell that to the NY Times? Because none of it was true, not then and not now! Simply Google this Rabbi and anyone can see he is not credible."

He finished by arguing Mr. Grimm's biography and character is beyond reproach.

"The Democrats can continue their futile attacks because the documented and verifiable truth is simple: Michael Grimm is a hero that was recognized for valor in combat when he volunteered and almost gave his life completing an extremely dangerous mission during the Gulf War as a U.S. Marine," he stated. "Michael Grimm is a patriot who risked his life time and time again going undercover to take bad guys off our streets and protect our families."

Update: An Associated Press report would seem to have Mr. Weiner's back:

"But today a law enforcement official indeed confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigations was contacted by then Congressman Weiner about allegations of fund-raising wrongdoing by Rep. Michael Grimm."