Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver revealed Monday that he asked Vito Lopez to resign from the Legislature over a sexual-harassment scandal that has tainted both their legacies.
In an interview with the Daily News on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Silver said he called Lopez on Friday to ask him to step down.
“He basically was inaudible,” Silver told The News of the powerful Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman’s response. “I got the impression he didn’t appreciate my advice.”
It was Silver’s first comments on the Lopez scandal since he acknowledged he made a mistake by authorizing a secret deal to settle sexual harassment claims against Lopez.
Silver waited over a week after the scandal broke to call Lopez — and a few more days after that before publicly revealing that he made the call.
Rita Pasarell, 30, and Leah Hebert, 29, both former members of Lopez’s Assembly staff, were given $103,080 in taxpayer money in June to avoid further litigation.
Lopez, 71, pitched in another $32,000 of his own money to hush up the claims against him.
“We made a mistake. I acknowledge a mistake was made,” Silver told The News.
Silver insisted that no other secret settlements have been made during his 18-year tenure as Speaker. He also vowed to see that no more confidential settlements are made in the future and promised to refer all future sexual harassment claims against lawmakers to the Assembly ethics committee.
Yet he defended the hush-hush deal in the Lopez case, saying he did it to protect the victims and save the state money from a potential $1.2 million lawsuit.
“We always wanted to do what we thought were the wishes of the victims,” Silver said. “In this case, that was the intended motive. We believed at the time that the victims wanted a quiet solution to this matter.”
News of the covert settlement exploded Aug. 24 when Silver revealed that he was stripping Lopez of his Assembly seniority and leadership positions in the wake of an ethics committee finding that the party boss had physically and sexually harassed two other staffers.
The committee found that Lopez groped and kissed the two women against their consent and used “pervasive and unwelcome verbal conduct against them." The identities of the women have not been disclosed.
Lopez has agreed to step aside as Brooklyn Democratic party chair but says he is committed to running for reelection to the Assembly this fall.
By Kenneth Lovett In Charlotte, N.c. AND Bill Hutchinson / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
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