Speaker Christine Quinn denouncing Vito Lopez.

As he contemplates a run for City Council, scandal-scarred Vito Lopez isn't getting any more popular just because he resigned from the State Assembly on Monday.

That was made abundantly clear at a City Hall rally yesterday, where a bevy of women legislators and candidates,  including Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and Councilwoman Diana Reyna, again denounced Mr. Lopez's candidacy and endorsed the disgraced pol's would-be rival, Antonio Reynoso.

"My advice is to cease and desist and do it now," Ms. Quinn said. "This is not only a fool's errand, it is an outrage and a complete show of arrogance. This is outrageous. You are continuing your clear disregard for women of this city by even thinking of running for City Council. And I have to tell him to stop while he is already behind before he loses again."

Ms. Quinn, who has positioned herself as one of Mr. Lopez's loudest critics since a lurid ethics commission's report revealed formers staffers' extensive sexual harassment allegations, has vowed to lead the efforts to help Mr. Reynoso win.

Ms. Velázquez, a long-time foe of Mr. Lopez's in Brooklyn, lamented the impact of Mr. Lopez's alleged actions on his constituents.

"He needs to do a lot of soul-searching," Ms. Velázquez said. "I didn't want to reach a point where I was in a position to say, 'I told you so.' But it is painful and I think that the community has gone through so much and if there's anything we need to combat right now, it's the cynicism and disillusionment with politics. Let's provide the community with a new beginning."

Like Ms. Velázquez, Ms. Reyna once fended off a strong challenge from a Lopez ally, narrowly winning re-election in 2009 in a campaign managed by Mr. Reynoso.

"There has to be a safer place for women throughout this city and throughout this state," Ms. Reyna said. "It is important that we all understand: As women, we have to guide the men in our lives. And it's important that men who don't understand that message stand clear of the way."

For his part, Mr. Lopez, who is being treated for cancer, said his decision about whether he will ultimately go through with a run for office again will depend on his health.

Art by Brian Taylor

The week before Vito Lopez resigned, the state ethics commission released a scathing 68-page report that detailed a lurid pattern of abuse in his district office.

According to the allegations, the former assemblyman once lamented the existence of statutory rape laws in the presence of a 14-year-old intern. Mr. Lopez demanded massages from female staffers, including one who cried and expressed her discomfort as a former rape victim. At a bar one evening, he grabbed an employee’s hands from across the table. When she tried to pull away, he tightened his grip. When she began to cry, Mr. Lopez said he’d release her only after she counted to 60. When she did, he stared at her for the full minute.

After resigning from his Assembly seat on Monday morning, Mr. Lopez is said to be contemplating a seemingly unfathomable second act: running for City Council. Given the accusations against him, what’s more surprising is that even his detractors acknowledge that Mr. Lopez actually has a viable path to victory.

The key to his support is a career of aggressive local advocacy that goes back four decades. As an ambitious young politician, Mr. Lopez founded a far-reaching social service network that relied on public funding and over time, ushered in significant neighborhood improvements to Bushwick, a section of Brooklyn once plagued by violence, arson and riots. Despite the unsavory headlines, Mr. Lopez is still held in high regard among the beneficiaries of his efforts. “I don’t believe that’s true,” Gloria Bonilla, 61, said of the allegations as she left a red-bricked Melrose Avenue building Mr. Lopez helped fund. “I don’t care what anyone says.”

“Who knows if it was just someone making up lies?” asked another building resident who declined to give her name. “I give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“He’s giving low-income families the opportunity to have beautiful apartments in Brooklyn,” she added, gesturing to the buildings she’s lived in for the past three years, which Mr. Lopez helped create.

"Thank You Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez" (Photo: Colin Campbell)

The sunny buildings, with their bright blue and cream accents, stand out in the working-class, largely Latino neighborhood. A sign above one entrance reads “Thank You Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez.” Meanwhile, at a nearby intersection, the three other corners are empty lots, secured with graffiti-covered corrugated metal walls, barbed wire and padlocks.

Manuel Sanchez, 45, born in the Dominican Republic, has lived in the complex for two years. Despite limited English, his eyes lit up when he heard Mr. Lopez’s name.

“This building, this whole block, he did it,” Mr. Sanchez said. He said he’d heard about the allegations (“something about secretaries”), but has voted for Mr. Lopez numerous times and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again.

In a city where most New Yorkers are hard-pressed to name their local assemblyman, how did Mr. Lopez become a household name in his district? Fresh out of Yeshiva University with a degree in social work, in 1973 the Bensonhurst-born Mr. Lopez founded the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council to deliver sorely needed services. In 1984, a seat opened up in the State Assembly, and Mr. Lopez’s connections in the community enabled him to seize it.

By the time Clarence Norman, then the head of Kings County Democratic Party, was convicted of corruption in 2005, Mr. Lopez had enough support to replace him. As head of the county organization, he could reward allies with judgeships and electoral support—and threaten foes with primary challenges. That influence, combined with his perch on the Assembly’s housing committee, allowed Mr. Lopez to funnel millions of dollars into Ridgewood Bushwick, which in turn provided him with name recognition, supporters and volunteers, both in his own district and neighboring ones.

“Vito created a new model of a contemporary political machine,” Lincoln Restler, a northern Brooklyn Democratic activist and Vito antagonist, explained in an interview. “Gone are the days of widespread patronage in city government that district leaders and county government could deliver to their constituents. Vito created a nonprofit as a vehicle for delivering services to his political loyalists.”

Rather than the outright graft of the Boss Tweed era, nonprofits provide a more above-board mechanism for moving taxpayer dollars around. Mr. Lopez’s organization grew into a sprawling social services empire providing housing, health care, youth activities and senior centers to Bushwick, Williamsburg, Ridgewood and surrounding areas, while employing some 2,000 people. They included Mr. Lopez’s girlfriend, Angela Battaglia, who reportedly made $352,000 as Ridgewood Bushwick’s housing director in 2011. Up until recently, Mr. Lopez’s campaign treasurer was the nonprofit’s executive director.

“He has been involved in delivering services and doling out favors for a very long time to the people who live in this district,” Mr. Restler said. “There are more abuelitas—more grandmothers—who have had Vito sit at their dining room table in this district than you would believe. Accordingly, a remarkable percentage of the people in this district and the surrounding areas have been unwilling to believe that this sexual misconduct is true.”

If Mr. Lopez runs for City Council, his main opponent will be Antonio Reynoso, a former chief of staff to term-limited Councilwoman Diana Reyna--whose district he is now vying to represent. Mr. Reynoso, an energetic 30-year-old who biked over to a Williamsburg cafe to discuss the race last Friday, is a strong contrast to the 71-year-old Mr. Lopez, whose hulking frame can fill up a room. Where Mr. Lopez is quick to tout his extensive legislative record, Mr. Reynoso questioned whether someone so reviled could accomplish anything more when stripped of influence outside of the footprint of Ridgewood Bushwick.

“Vito is extremely defiant—egomaniacal,” Mr. Reynoso said, suggesting the allegations only make Mr. Lopez more likely to run. “Every single day he has to prove something to the world. Who he harms along that path to self-fulfillment is insignificant to him … I don’t want my community to be left with a representative who’s not going to be able to help them.”

Mr. Reynoso said the scandal’s most salacious details have yet to permeate the community, and he admitted that Mr. Lopez’s most passionate supporters may not be swayed, but the appearance of the former assemblyman’s mug on the front page of the city’s tabloids has had an effect. “People know, they just don’t know how bad it is,” Mr. Reynoso said. “They know it’s in regards to sexual harassment, they just don’t know the details.”

It’s still unclear whether Mr. Lopez, who has not been criminally charged despite the sordid pile of evidence against him, will ultimately pursue a comeback campaign. Although he firmly stated his intention to run last week, he later indicated that the decision would be informed by his health as he receives treatments for cancer.

Should Mr. Lopez make the electoral leap, he can expect plenty of headwinds from the city’s political establishment. Many of Mr. Lopez’s former political allies have called on him to stand down, while almost every mayoral candidate and labor union has publicly thrown endorsements at Mr. Reynoso, who has his own base of support. For the first time, Mr. Lopez would be running effectively on his own.

What’s more, Bushwick and Williamsburg are less hardscrabble than they were when Mr. Lopez first arrived four decades ago. The western ends of Ms. Reyna’s district have been subjected to waves of gentrification, and the electorate has accordingly transformed.

“This gentrifying community, there is a voting bloc to it,” Mr. Reynoso said. “They tend to be more progressive and folks who really know what Vito is doing. They do read the Post and the Daily News.”

Additional reporting by Jill Colvin

City Comptroller John Liu. (Photo: Getty Images)

City Comptroller John Liu will announce the endorsement of a slew of Democratic officials from across Brooklyn Friday in another effort by his mayoral campaign to show he's gaining steam, despite the recent guilty verdicts against his former campaign treasurer and a fund-raiser.

The supporters include Assemblywoman Inez Barron, City Council candidate Ari Kagan, and Democratic district leaders Melba Brown, Betty Ann Canizio, Jeanette Givant,  Christopher Olechowski, Chris Owens, Corey Provost and Charles Ragusa.

The ethnically diverse batch of endorsers hail from neighborhoods across the borough, including Greenpoint, East New York, Crown Heights, Bensonhurst and Brighton Beach. Additionally, they include both establishment-types like Mr. Olechowski--who defeated Lincoln Restler, a thorn in the side of the county leadership--last year, and at least one Brownstone Brooklyn reformer in the form of Mr. Owens.

"New Yorkers need independent and effective leadership who will stand up for communities across the city and tackle the problems of poverty, systemic unemployment, school closings, racial profiling, foreclosures and low paying jobs,” said Ms. Barron, the wife of outspoken City Councilman Charles Barron, in a statement. “We need immediate change and the best mayoral candidate to offer bold solutions and get things done is John Liu.” Mr. Barron, also a district leader, had previously endorsed Mr. Liu.

"I support John for Mayor because he understands the needs of all people with different social economic backgrounds who need help making ends meet and the reforms needed to give our students a solid education to compete in this global economy,” said Ms. Canizio.

Loretta Lynch speaking last night.

As indictments of minority elected officials continue to pile up, some leaders have openly suggested, while offering scant evidence, that a conspiracy exists to remove blacks and Latinos from power. But U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, one of two federal prosecutors responsible for bringing many of the recent corruption charges, outright rejected any conspiracy theories last night. 

"There certainly is no conspiracy to look at any particular group," Ms. Lynch told reporters after speaking in front of a civic group in Marine Park, Brooklyn. "[Pedro] Espada was from the Bronx. You have other politicians from this area who have been prosecuted here, politicians from my district have been prosecuted in Manhattan as well, because it depends upon what evidence develops and where the case takes you. You really can't predict that, to be honest with you."

Ms. Lynch is black and her fellow U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is Indian-American. Together, within the last two months, they have brought corruption charges against a slew of lawmakers, including State Senators Shirley Huntley, Malcolm Smith and John Sampson, as well as Assemblyman Eric Stevenson and Councilman Dan Halloran.

For her part, Ms. Lynch tried to rationalize why someone like State Senator James Sanders--the recent host of a debate dubbed "Attack on Black Leaders: Corruption or Conspiracy?"--openly wonder whether there is a conspiracy at work.

"No matter what type of case we prosecute, people who may feel targeted are concerned and make all kinds of statements about it," Ms. Lynch said. "It's part of the problem of public corruption that it really almost makes everyone look as if they're involved, even if they're not. And so you have people get very paranoid and very nervous and feel as if they're under a microscope ... We don't go around targeting people other than those that we strongly have evidence [against], but I think what happens is, the atmosphere is very toxic, for lack of a better word, and it does affect people and that's a byproduct of these cases," she said.

Councilman Jumaane Williams, who also attended last night's event, said the question of whether there is a conspiracy against minorities in power is not being framed the right way. The fact that he was even being asked about it, he said, was part of the problem.

"I've never heard anybody ask how it affects the white community," Mr. Williams said of the corruption scandals. "I think people look at elected officials of more color twice as hard and the blame is three times as much. So I think they have some kind of issue there, the fact that the question is asked for one group and not the other again shows how much of the problem there is."

When Politicker asked who the "people" were and whether they included federal prosecutors, Mr. Williams said it was "everybody."

"That's how, since I've been growing up, I've understood the world to be," he said. "It's unfortunate because I've tried real hard to change that but that's the way the world works."

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.

Hakeem Jeffries (Photo: Facebook)

Months into his first term, his short time in Washington D.C. has Congressman Hakeem Jeffries convinced the Tea Party is out of control.

"Every day I'm in Washington D.C., I'm focused on two things: battling the Tea Party and standing up for President Obama," Mr. Jeffries, a Democrat, said last night at a Brooklyn fundraiser for his successor, Assemblyman Walter Mosley. "The Tea Party folks, they're off the chain. From my perspective, the right thing to do for the country is to make sure we invest in our economy and we stand up for programs like Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid--and stand up for the most vulnerable people among us."

Mr. Jeffries added that he would take the fight to the whole "crew" of Republican leadership, drawing wild applause from his supporters at the Crown Heights restaurant.

"As opposed to what the other side wants to do, which is to basically balance the budget on the backs of children and seniors, working families and the middle class," he said. "And despite what John Boehner says, despite Paul Ryan, despite that whole crew, we're not going to let it happen."

Since replacing the retired Edolphus Towns, Mr. Jeffries has been appointed to the Budget Committee and Judiciary Committee. Republican Congressman Paul Ryan, one of the GOP's rising stars, chairs the Budget Committee and has aggressively pushed for spending cuts as a way to trigger economic growth.

Mr. Jeffries, needless to say, is no fan of that approach.

John Sampson (Photo: N.Y. State Senate)

State Senator John Sampson, who up until recently led his chamber's Democratic conference, is set to turn himself into federal authorities today after being ensared in a bribery scandal, according to The New York Times and New York Post.

It's unclear to what extent Mr. Sampson may have been cooperating with federal prosecutors prior to this point. His involvement in an alleged scheme with then-State Senator Shirley Huntley, who already pleaded guilty to her own charges, was revealed last week when a sentencing letter made public Ms. Huntley's own cooperation. The Times reports Mr. Sampson be charged with obstruction of justice.

Should Mr. Sampson indeed be charged as expected, his arrest will follow what has been a recent string of corruption scandals in New York, including State Senator Malcolm Smith, Councilman Dan Halloran and Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, who was caught when a colleague revealed he had been wearing a wire himself and resigned. And, in the past couple years, pols like Councilman Larry Seabrook, State Senator Pedro Espada and State Senator Carl Kruger have been convicted in their own bribery or embezzlement schemes.

Furthermore, Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. was indicted for stealing public funds again last Friday, and the day before, two close associates to Comptroller John Liu, a candidate for mayor this year, were found guilty of attempting to organize a straw donor scheme on his behalf.

Needless to say, when it comes to good governance, New York is not gaining a particularly good reputation these days. And with more cooperating witnesses, there's no  sign that the scandals will end anytime soon.

Update (9:00 a.m.): According to multiple reports, Mr. Sampson has indeed turned himself in. U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch is holding a press conference at 11 a.m. to further discuss the arrest.

John Catsimatidis addresses the audience.

Earlier today, John Catsimatidis gave his mayoral campaign pitch to the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, and it was certainly not a humdrum affair. His initial speech, given as he stood in the backroom of a Cobble Hill Irish pub, went smoothly enough. When Mr. Catsimatidis veered into the question-and-answer period, however, the GOP candidate quarreled extensively with a multiple audience members.

"I still don't understand what your plan is," conservative activist Frank Russo told Mr. Catsimatidis, for example, about his job training program. "Quite frankly, I'm being honest. I'm not trying to be confrontational."

"That's public money, that's my money," another audience member chimed in about the proposal, which would train some young people trade skills early on in their careers. "You think it's okay to steal it!"

"No! No! No!" Mr. Catsimatidis boomed back, pausing for effect. “Bullshit! Go bullshit yourself if you want! ... The program is to teach these people the ability to earn a living, okay? ... I know how to make a living! I know how to teach people to make a living. You know, if you don't like it, tough!"

The verbal exchange continued. Mr. Russo, the head of the Brooklyn Tea Party club, said he was baffled at the tension.

"I'm a registered voter. I'm a Republican registered voter," he said. "I don't know whom I'm supporting. I don't know who I will vote for. Why would I vote for you if that's how you talk to people?"

"If that's the way you talk to me!" Mr. Catsimatidis exclaimed as the two attempted to shout over one another. "I am not scared. Let me tell you, I'm not scared of the 12 people that will be demonstrating at the bottom of the street saying, 'Oh, bap-bap-bap-bap.'"

This was not Mr. Catsimatidis' only heated back-and-forth during the meeting. Another questioner, Bay Ridge Republican gadfly Jim McCall, pressed the candidate on whether he'd get involved in elections for party leadership posts. The borough's one GOP elected official, State Senator Marty Golden, is currently trying to oust party chair Craig Eaton and Mr. McCall wanted Mr. Catsimatidis to stay out of the squabble.

"State committee and county committee, what does that mean?" Mr. Catsimatidis replied, confused. "Here's what I'm going to do. I will always support my friends--full stop! I will always support my friends--full stop! I still support my friends from grammar school, I still support my friends from Brooklyn Tech. And I'm not going to stop doing that ... Tough luck if you're not my friend! Tough luck if you're not my friend!"

"Maybe you'll get tough luck!" Mr. McCall snapped, attempting to be heard over Mr. Catsimatidis and the escalating noise in the room. "And a lot that rhymes with 'luck.'"

"Well, 'shit' doesn't rhyme with luck," Mr. Catsimatidis noted back. "If everybody wants to fight me, I'll be there! Next!"

Update (7:50 p.m.): Jessica Proud, spokeswoman for rival Republican candidate Joe Lhota, sent in a response to today's event.

"Anyone running for mayor should be able to offer substantive ideas and solutions to our city's problems without engaging in irrational and antagonistic exchanges with voters," she wrote in an email.

Below you can watch some of the sparring between Mr. Catsimatidis and Mr. Russo, courtesy of Jacob Kornbluh of the political blog NYC Elects -- 2013:

David Storobin. (Photo: Facebook)

Former State Senator David Storobin officially filed for term-limited Councilman Mike Nelson's district today, setting the stage for what will likely be one of the few competitive general election race in heavily-Democratic New York City.

Politicker actually bumped into Mr. Storobin last night at a fund-raiser for socially conservative Democratic mayoral candidate Erick Salgado--although Mr. Storobin, a Republican, said his presence wasn't an endorsement. The buzz among several attendees was that the former state lawmaker would indeed run for the seat, so we asked him where he was at in his decision-making process. He claimed to be undecided.

"You catch me at a different hour, I have a different feeling," he explained. "I don't know what ... I'm going to do."

Mr. Storobin, who noted he just lost a brutal re-election battle last year after narrowly winning an equally tough special election a few months before that, expressed reservations about entering a third campaign so quickly. On the other hand, he said he felt like he had a unique opportunity in an open Council contest containing some of his best electoral turf in Brooklyn's Russian-American community.

Should he enter the race, Mr. Storobin would be the only Republican in a field that includes a plethora of Democratic hopefuls, notably attorneys Igor Oberman and Michael Treybich, district leader Ari Kagan, Nelson staffer Chaim Deutsch and community board chair Theresa Scavo.

Marty Markowitz (YouTube screengrab)

Last night, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz gave the last "State of the Borough" speech of his 12-year career in the office, and he made sure it was a colorful one, complete with exploding fireworks and a rapping Tony Danza. For his part, Mr. Markowitz himself took on the roles of a talk-show host, comedian and actor--the last featuring a "demo reel" where, among other things, he dons a hoodie for a scene in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and dresses up as Captain America.

"With only a few months left in my term, I have to start thinking about a career after the Borough Presidency," Mr. Markowitz explains. "So, I put together my personal demo reel of auditions for major motion pictures filmed right here in Brooklyn. So, lights, camera, action!!"

Watch below: