A new report “exonerates” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver of any wrongdoing in regard to the sexual-harassment allegations against Assemblyman Vito Lopez.
According to Silver’s spokesman, the report indicates that the speaker will be cleared of any legal misconduct in the ongoing investigation.
“As we have said throughout, we are confident that the commission found no legal or ethical violation by Speaker Silver or his staff and urge the Legislative Ethics Commission to release the report immediately,” said Silver spokesman Michael Whyland.
The state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics yesterday passed the report about Lopez’s alleged misconduct to the Legislative Ethics Commission.
Lopez was censured last summer for harassing female staffers, two of whom received a $103,080 settlement in taxpayer funds.
Silver had approved a secret deal to keep the harassment claim against the Brooklyn politician a secret.
The payouts surfaced last August after the harassment charges against Lopez came to light.
Silver later stripped Lopez of the powerful Housing Committee chairmanship. Silver said he had been wrong to keep the transaction a secret.
A separate criminal probe into Lopez’s conduct is also under way by Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan.
Silver ‘cleared’ in Gropez case
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Silver ‘cleared’ in Gropez case
