Richard Stiek, the Republican challenging state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel for her seat in the 16th Assembly District, called on Schimel to join him in demanding the resignation of state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver over the Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal.
“If there was a ‘war on women’ it was waged by Vito Lopez,” Stiek said, referring to the Democratic Brooklyn Assemblyman.
Stiek slammed Silver for approving a previously confidential $103,000 settlement with two Lopez staffers who accused him of sexual harassment.
“I am asking Ms. Schimel to join with me, the National Organization for Women and Common Cause NY in calling for Sheldon Silver’s resignation from the Assembly for his actions in covering up this payment,” Stiek said in a statement on Monday.
The newly redistricted 16th Assembly District includes Great Neck, North New Hyde Park, Herricks, Roslyn Heights, Roslyn, Manhasset and Port Washington.
A special prosecutor and the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics are both investigating the 71-year-old Lopez, who is charged with verbally harassing, groping and kissing two women who worked in his district office this summer without their consent. The charges apparently follow an earlier secret settlement Lopez and the Assembly of claims brought by two other women who had worked for Lopez.
Silver accepted the Assembly Ethics Committee’s findings late last month and stripped Lopez of his seniority and committee chairmanship.
In a statement on Monday, Schimel said she had “legitimate concerns” about the way the Lopez case was handled.
“I am disgusted by any incident of sexual harassment and it is never acceptable. Speaker Silver stated that he made a mistake in not insisting that all cases go to the Ethics Committee.”
Schimel noted that Silver subsequently referred the complaint to the bipartisan Assembly Committee on Ethics and Guidance.
“Consistent with the request of Common Cause and NOW, I welcome the JCOPE investigation because a JCOPE inquiry supersedes any confidentiality agreements that exist and will allow all the facts to come out,” she added
Schimel also cited the need to “address any systematic issues that allow a culture to exist in which women can be abused in this manner,” and called for “immediate steps” to ensure such behavior “is no longer is business as usual in our state capitol.”
Meanwhile, after state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said a criminal conviction was not necessary for a state legislative body to expel a member, Silver said he has changed his position on what further actions he could take.
In a statement reported earlier this week, Silver’s spokesman, Michael Whyland, said the speaker “firmly believes that Vito Lopez is not fit to serve in the New York State Assembly.”
Whyland said Silver agreed with Schneiderman and in light of ongoing investigations in the case, he said, “we’re reviewing our options.”
