Shelly Silver in Albany. (Photo: Getty)

At a Democratic club meeting in Queens last night, Councilman Danny Dromm said progressives should "thank God" for embattled Assembly Speaker Sheldon Speaker, not revile him.

"Thank God for Shelly Silver," Mr. Dromm said to his group, the News Visions Democratic Club in Jackson Heights, when the discussion shifted to Albany politics. "A lot of conservative stuff that might have happened didn't happen. I don't know what his prospects are for the Assembly, but we'll see."

Mr. Silver has faced a barrage of criticism for his handling of sexual harassment allegations against ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez. While Mr. Silver has since apologized for quietly settling several cases against Mr. Lopez with $100,000 in public money instead of flagging them for investigation, many editorial boards and two Democratic Assembly members have called for him to step down as reports continue to swirl that Mr. Silver, who has held his post since 1994, may be facing growing backlash from his typically loyal members.

Mr. Dromm, however, reiterated to Politicker that he believes Mr. Silver's presence is crucial in Albany.

"Shelly has held the line on a lot of progressive issues and I'm appreciative of that," he explained. "I don't want to see a lot of things that have been passed or proposed by the Republican Senate be put into law."

Mr. Dromm cited legislation passed last week by the State Senate--controlled by Republicans and a breakaway Democratic faction--that would make "harassing" a police officer a felony punishable up to four years in prison as an example of a bill that Mr. Silver's Assembly would halt in its tracks. For that, Mr. Dromm said he was grateful.

"I think Shelly does have the support of his members and we'll see how this weathers out," he added.

Jason Otaño speaks at the New Kings Democrats forum.

A candidate running to fill disgraced ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez's empty seat said Wednesday he would be "hard-pressed" to vote for Shelly Silver as his speaker because of Mr. Silver's mishandling of the sexual harassment allegations that forced Mr. Lopez out.

Assembly Democrats have thus far been reluctant to discuss leadership changes, despite the fact that a majority of voters would like to see Mr. Silver go. But attorney Jason Otaño, the favorite of anti-Lopez activists, was blunt when posed the question at a forum last night.

"As more and more information comes to light about what's happened and how the speaker handled it, I find it very hard for me to be able to trust in leadership that isn't protecting the interests of our women," said Mr. Otaño, bemoaning what he labeled a "pathetic state of being."

"There is a culture of cronyism, there's a culture of backroom dealings and insider baseball that needs to change. And my policy and my perspective is that we need to change Albany. Now, I don't know that one person changes it, but right now, currently, I'm running to help bring that change," he said.

Mr. Otaño, who last year lost a challenge to a Lopez ally, State Senator Martin Dilan, will be facing another close associate, Maritza Davila, Mr. Lopez’s co-district leader, who nearly unseated Councilwoman Diana Reyna four years ago. Charvey Gonzalez, an aide to Mr. Dilan, has also jumped into the race--sparking allegations from club members and Mr. Otaño himself that Lopez allies are attempting to split the vote to help Ms. Davila win.

Mr. Otaño said the district simply cannot afford to have a Lopez-backed candidate remain in power.

"Nobody in this room needs to be told how much change was needed and how necessarily it was that Vito resign from his seat. But now the message that needs to be spread is this is our opportunity to completely stamp out the infrastructure and the paradigm of politics that he's held and been able to create in North Brooklyn for so very long,'" he said, adding, "This isn't a done deal."

Still, Mr. Lopez, who is revered in parts of Bushwick for the millions of dollars he's delivered as the one-time chair of the Assembly's housing committee and Brooklyn's Democratic Party, wields a significant amount of influence and the outcome of the race to replace him is far from certain. Indeed, Mr. Lopez is currently running for the City Council, and despite the salacious scandal, even his detractors admit he could still win.

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell. Due to technical error, an identical version of this post was removed for several hours late Thursday afternoon. It has since been replaced without changes.

Charvey Gonzalez. (Photo: Facebook)

The race to replace former Assemblyman Vito Lopez won't simply be a one-on-one affair.

Charvey Gonzalez, an aide to State Senator Martin Dilan, is also joining the field, which already includes district leader Maritza Davila and attorney Jay Otaño.

Mr. Dilan was a close ally of Mr. Lopez when the two served together in Albany, and since Mr. Lopez appears to be running for the City Council on a joint ticket with Ms. Davila, Mr. Gonzalez's prospective candidacy led at least one observer to speculate it was an attempt to split the anti-Lopez vote in Ms. Davila's favor.

But Mr. Dilan told Politicker that this wasn't the case at all.

"Vito and I have always been friends," he said this afternoon.  "But he has nothing to do with Charvey running."

"I'm supporting him. This is something he wanted to do and I told him to think about it long ago," Mr. Dilan explained. "He did and he said he wants to do it. He'll be a good assemblyman ... I know that [Mr. Lopez] does have his candidate ... I think we need to start looking somewhere fresh."

When asked, Mr. Dilan said Mr. Lopez--who resigned in the aftermath of a scathing sexual harassment investigation--wasn't pleased with the situation.

"I have mentioned it to him. I would say that he's not happy with it," he said. "I told him that if he wants to run he has the right to run."

Assemblyman Rafael Espinal, who previously served as chief of staff to Mr. Dilan's son, Councilman Erik Dilan, further told Politicker that Mr. Gonzalez "is in it to win it."

The election to fill Mr. Lopez's vacancy will be decided on September 10th, as the primary winner is all but assured victory in the heavily-Democratic, Bushwick-based seat.

Update (1:37 p.m.): Lincoln Restler, a close ally of Mr. Otaño and a Lopez antagonist, reached out to Politicker to slam Mr. Gonzalez's campaign as a "cynical ploy."

"This is a cynical ploy by a Vito puppet to run spoiler candidates in the Assembly and Council races to preserve power for Vito and his minions," Mr. Restler insisted. "The voters of Williamsburg and Bushwick must see through these sham candidacies."

The sign outside Ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez's office has already been removed. (Photo: Twitter/@thomaskaplan)

Ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s resignation became effective at 9 a.m. this morning, and Assembly officials wasted little time scrubbing all traces of the disgraced legislator online and in Albany.

Mr. Lopez's official government website has already been removed, as has his official Assembly email address. ("Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently," a message read.) By 10:30 a.m., the nameplate outside his Legislative Office Building had also been removed--apparently forcibly, per a photo tweeted by The New York Times' Thomas Kaplan. His name will also be removed from his floor seat, an official said.

At his district office in Brooklyn, phones this morning rang unanswered. “I’m sorry, but there’s no room right now to record your message. Please try again later. Goodbye," an answering service said.

At Mr. Lopez’s legislative office in Albany, staff reported to work but were apparently unsure of what to do.  “I don’t know,” a flustered woman who answered the phone said when Politicker asked if they were still operating.

Of course Albany leadership is no stranger to the process of making disgraced legislators disappear. In recent years the body had dealt with a slew of forced resignations, including most recently, Bronx Assemblyman Nelson Castro, who was forced to resign on federal perjury charges after helping the feds gather evidence against his colleagues by wearing a wire.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's spokesman, Michael Whyland, said that Mr. Lopez's staff will remain on the payroll for an "indeterminate" period of time performing constituent services and can still be contacted at the same offices and numbers.

But any legislation he introduced will be stricken, per Article 3, Section 13 of the State Constitution, Mr. Whyland said.

However, if Mr. Castro's office is any indication, those who live in Mr. Lopez's district may not want to held their breaths--phones at both his district and legislative offices rang unanswered Monday.

Vito Lopez. (Photo: NYS Assembly)

Disgraced Assemblyman Vito Lopez just announced that he will resign from the Assembly at the end of the legislative session--but still intends to run for City Council.

The announcement comes in the wake of a damning report released this week outlining his alleged sexual harassment of numerous young women who worked for him and a day after Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver said he would introduce a resolution seeking his expulsion.

"As of June 20, 2013, the last day of the session, I resign my position," My Lopez said in his statement, which contains no hint of remorse or reference to the efforts to force him out.

"I expect to run a vigorous campaign on the issues facing the citizens of my community and hope to continue to serve them as a member of the City Council," he continued. "I believe that the voters of the community should decide who should represent them."

Here's the full statement released by his office:

I am gratified that Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan has concluded, after an exhaustive investigation, that there is no basis for bringing criminal charges against me. I have maintained my innocence throughout this matter and I believe no criminal investigation should ever have been conducted.

I have made no secret that I intend to run for New York City Council in November, which requires me to resign my current term. Nevertheless, because the citizens of my district voted me back into office last November  by an overwhelming majority, I feel obligated to serve out this session of the Assembly. I therefore announce that as of June 20, 2013, the last day of the session, I resign my position.

I expect to run a vigorous campaign on the issues facing the citizens of my community and hope to continue to serve them as a member of the City Council. I believe that the voters of the community should decide who should represent them.

Update (12:20 p.m):

June 20 is not soon enough for Mr. Silver, whose office said he will move forward with his efforts to expel Mr. Lopez before the end of the session.

"Assemblymember Lopez should no longer be in public office. We will move forward with our resolution on Monday," his spokesman said in a statement.

Update (12:36 p.m):

Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on Mr. Lopez to resign immediately and said that if he doesn't, he should be expelled.

“As I said yesterday, there should be a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sexual harassment and we must now send a clear message that this behavior is not tolerated," he said in a statement. "Vito Lopez should not spend another day in office, let alone a whole month. He should resign effective immediately and if he does not, he must be expelled. ”

Vito Lopez. (Photo: NYS Assembly)

Describing his conduct as "nauseating," City Council Speaker Christine Quinn again called on disgraced Assemblyman Vito Lopez to resign from office, but held her fire when it came to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

A day after the release of a scathing report detailing Mr. Lopez's alleged sexual harassment of numerous young female staffers, Ms. Quinn said Mr. Lopez had no business serving in elected office--much less running for the City Council--and urged New Yorkers to do anything they can to keep him out of City Hall.

“I think what we are finding out now in very specific--and quite frankly nauseating detail--is shocking and Assemblymember Lopez should resign from his position as an Assemblymember immediately. He should drop his run for the City Council. And if he doesn’t do that, everyone in New York City needs to get behind his opponent, Antonio Reynoso, get together and make sure that Antonio gets elected,” she told reporters at an unrelated press conference at City Hall.

“To allow Vito Lopez, after what he did in the State Capitol, to be allowed into this building, to potentially, in the name of representing New Yorkers, conduct himself in such a horrible way would be an outrage,” she added. “It is incumbent upon all of us in New York to join together behind Antonio and make sure Vito does not get into this building."

Ms. Quinn had vowed to do anything in her power to keep Mr. Lopez out of office even before the report. Mr. Lopez has rejected the "salacious and sensational" claims as "fallacious"

Still, Mr. Quinn declined to call for action against Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who, the report alleged, had tried to shield Mr. Lopez by dragging his feet in first reporting the harassment and keeping the claims secret from the press.

Clearly, she said, Mr. Silver had "made mistakes” in his handling the complaints. But she said he had already promised swift reforms.

“He has made a commitment to move forward and reform the process in Albany,” she said. “He needs to move quickly to address those and to take real steps to put reforms in place so those kind of mistakes can never happen again.”

She also declined to weigh in on specific reforms--or calls for the Assembly to expel Mr. Lopez from his seat.

“I don’t know what the powers are that they have,” she said, but added that, had the same allegations been made against a City Councilman, he would be gone.

As for City Councilman Daniel Halloran, who was arrested as part of an alleged bribery scheme, she said the case is still under investigation, tying the council’s hands.

Vito Lopez. (Photo: NYS Assembly)

Although Assemblyman Vito Lopez was cleared of criminal charges today, the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics still found plenty to to dislike about him in a revealing report that 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:

1. The Pink Eye Incident

One female Lopez staffer described her interactions with her boss as something like a "domestic abuse relationship" in which one "can't leave." In a text message exchange, this staffer, referred to in the report as Employee 2, told another staffer, Employee 3, that Lopez had asked why she didn't wear mini skirts and Employee 3 replied, "Oh my god! That's sexual harassment!!!!  WTF!!!!!!." In June of 2011, Employee 2 would contract pink eye after assenting to place eye drops in Mr. Lopez's infected eyes.

2. The Staring Contest

At a Brooklyn bar one evening, Mr. Lopez grabbed the hand of a staffer across the table. When she tried to pull away, he tightened his grip and when she began to cry, Mr. Lopez told her he would release his grip only after she counted to sixty. He did this while staring at her the entire time.

3. Disregarding Past Abuse

When a staffer told Mr. Lopez that she was a victim of a sexual assault in college and that his behavior was particularly upsetting to her, Mr. Lopez brought her head towards him, kissed her forehead and asked if she "felt guilty" about the attack. Lopez then asked her to massage his hand. As she massaged his hand, she began to cry and Mr. Lopez told her, "I like that you're holding my hand." She cried harder and Mr. Lopez eventually told her to stop massaging his hand.

4. The Cuddling Proposal

After the hand massage ended, Mr. Lopez said the staffer would have to "cuddle" with him in his Albany apartment. When the staffer resisted, Mr. Lopez threatened to terminate her, telling her that this would be her last trip to Albany.

5. Christmastime

Mr. Lopez announced to his office that he wanted to hang mistletoe over a staffer's desk and give her a kiss. When the staffer suggested he show affection toward his girlfriend instead, Mr. Lopez grew angry and told the staffer not to mention his girlfriend again. Mr. Lopez called the employee "uptight" and on other occasions told her she "must be a lesbian."

6. Legislative Rewards

Mr. Lopez once asked a staffer if she would kiss him if the Assembly passed a piece of legislation they had worked on. While the staffer said she would kiss him on the cheek, Mr. Lopez insisted on a kiss on the lips. The staffer refused. This same staffer also claimed Mr. Lopez asked her if she would accompany him on a trip to Russia and sleep in the same bed with him. When the staffer told Mr. Lopez she would not go on the trip under those conditions, Lopez passed her a note that read: “One drinking partner, one train car, one bed – yes or no?” When staffer said “no” for a second time, Lopez became angry, ripped up the note, and left.

7. The Jagged Fingernail

During the car ride home, a staffer said that Mr. Lopez once again put his hand between her legs on her inner thigh. She squeezed her legs together in an effort to prevent him from touching her and was scratched by one of Mr. Lopez’s jagged fingernails.

8. Just The Cheek

As dinner time was nearing one evening, Lopez suggested he and a staffer freshen up in a hotel room.  The staffer reluctantly agreed. Once in the room, she stated that Lopez grabbed her face and tried to kiss her. She repeatedly asked Mr. Lopez, “What are you doing,” and “fought him off.” Mr. Lopez tried to justify his conduct by telling her that he was only trying to kiss her on the cheek.

9. A Long Drive

A staffer once said she thought Mr. Lopez was too drunk to drive, but he insisted on doing so anyway. On the drive home, Mr. Lopez again requested a massage for his right hand. She said she complied because she was worried that Lopez might fall asleep while driving and she thought the massage would keep him awake. He used this opportunity to repeatedly force his right hand between her legs, at one point touching her underwear.

10. All The Way Up

At a Long Island restaurant, Mr. Lopez told the same staffer who had massaged his hand to do it again. This time, Mr. Lopez placed his hands on the staffer's legs which she kept tightly crossed. Mr. Lopez pried her legs open and forced his hand between her legs and high up her inner thigh--in the words of the staffer: "all the way up."

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell.

Eric Stevenson. (Photo: NYS Assembly)

Only a couple degrees of separation stand between Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, who was arrested and accused of corruption last week, and the infamous feud that led to the murders of hip-hop artists Tupac Shakur and Christopher "Notorious B.I.G" Wallace.

The connection begins with Khalil Abdullah, a Stevenson donor whose name and New Jersey hometown match that of a prominent cocaine trafficker who pleaded guilty in 2011. Additionally, The Smoking Gun reported that Mr. Abdullah shared an address with a celebrity hair stylist whose one-time "High Street" address is indeed the same as the contribution's. Multiple phone calls to individuals associated with the address and Mr. Abdullah's past reached numbers that were no longer in service.

Mr. Abdullah was closely involved in the saga of James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, a music industry mogul convicted last year for running a million-dollar cocaine operation on the side. Mr. Rosemond, whom The New York Times once characterized as "a prince at the royal court, whose ties to rap music’s biggest stars were known far and wide," was also described in the same article as having spent years "trying to shake accusations of involvement in a bitter feud that led to the murders of two rap music legends: Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace." Mr. Rosemond was implicated in a 1994 attack on Mr. Shakur, who responded by calling him out in the lyrics of one of his songs, “Against All Odds."

It was not immediately clear why Mr. Abdullah contributed $1,000 to Mr. Stevenson in October of 2010, but the assemblyman is the only New York State lawmaker to have received his financial support.

Mr. Stevenson has maintained his innocence of all wrongdoing.

(Photo: Getty)

Although the New York Post ran a front-page story today reporting that Governor Andrew Cuomo is seriously considering a coup d'etat against influential Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, the governor himself is denying any such scheme exists.

"It is wholly up to the legislative bodies to select a leader," Mr. Cuomo said on The Capitol Pressroom this morning. “I would never, even for a moment, try to influence that decision."

The report, which is already subject to some rivalry between the Post and the New York Daily News, further claimed that Mr. Cuomo's motivation for the ousting came from last week's high-profile corruption scandals. But Mr. Cuomo said today that he didn't even view the main scandal as an Albany problem.

"In terms of Speaker Silver, remember again the context. First of all, this is basically--the actions that have been revealed, the majority of the actions and the players--it was about a New York City mayoral scandal," he argued. "It was not an Albany scandal; I know we now use 'Albany' as sort of a broad brush to mean all electoral and campaign issues, but it was primarily about New York City."

The Capitol Pressroom's host, Susan Arbetter, pointed out that two of those involved, Assemblymen Nelson Castro and Eric Stevenson, were allegedly involved in a bribery plot that involved drafting legislation in the State Assembly, but Mr. Cuomo insisted that Mr. Silver could not be held at fault for that incident either.

"Then you had two assemblymen, who were relative newcomers to the Assembly I might add," he explained. "These are people who knew the law, they knew they spoke about violating the law and they knew people went to jail for it. And these people, as individuals, decided to break the law; that's what they did. And now they're going to be punished. So I don't know what culpability you could place on anyone but those individuals."

Mr. Cuomo went on to tout his recent budget negotiations with the State Legislature and said things have been "going well" with Mr. Silver.

(Photo: assembly.state.ny.us)

Moments ago, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office announced yet another New York State elected official, Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, has been arrested and accused of taking bribes. Earlier this week, New York's political world was rocked when corruption charges were leveled against State Senator Malcolm Smith and Councilman Dan Halloran. Mr. Stevenson's charges will be formally unsealed at noon today.

"Stevenson is accused of taking bribes in exchange for official acts, which included drafting, proposing, and agreeing to enact legislation that would benefit the co-defendants' businesses," the release announcing the press conference declared. "Two of the other defendants are also charged in connection with their payment of a bribe to another Assemblyman, who was actually cooperating with the Government at the time. The charges include conspiracy to deprive New York State and its citizens of Eric Stevenson’s honest services, federal programs and Travel Act bribery conspiracy, federal programs bribery, and Travel Act bribery conspiracy."

But the State Legislature's woes don't stop with Mr. Stevenson. The other assemblyman, currently unnamed, cooperated with the investigation and will have to resign from office now that the allegations against Mr. Stevenson are revealed.

"ASSEMBLYMAN-1 has been cooperating in this investigation since prior to January 2012. In exchange for that cooperation," the complaint reads. "ASSEMBLYMAN 1 has agreed, among other things, to continue to cooperate with the USAO and the Bronx County District Attorney's Office and to resign his office with the New York State Assembly following the arrests of the defendants in this complaint."

Few identifying details are provided, but the unnamed assemblyman is said to represent an adult day care center on Jerome Avenue, which is mostly represented by female legislators. Assemblyman Nelson Castro represents a district that could match the complaint, so we reached out to his office. Mr. Castro's chief of staff said they would have an announcement "by the end of the day" but declined to elaborate.

Update (1:25 p.m.): The New York Daily News confirmed Mr. Castro is the unnamed assemblyman.

View the complaint below: