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As his grip over one of the most powerful Democratic machines in New York was slipping away last summer, Assemblyman Vito Lopez tried to hang on to power by bullying women on his staff to help him whitewash a looming sex-harassment scandal, The Post has learned.
As soon as complaints against Lopez began to pile up, the assemblyman forced his reluctant female staffers to write fawning and admiring notes about him to create a paper trail that would “cover his tracks.”
The letters, e-mails and text messages that were offered up as part of his defense during an ethics probe sang Lopez’s praises, saying how great he was and how eager the staffers were to work or travel with him, sources said.
“Only a fool would believe any of these women would want to be within a mile of this pervert,” said a source briefed on the evidence. “It was an apparent attempt to create a paper trail to show they were ‘wanted’ advances.”
“If he didn’t get enough adoration, he would berate them.”
The letters and e-mails were in stark contrast to the complaints about Lopez that characterize him as a skirt-chaser, who verbally harassed, groped and kissed two of his staff members.
The harassment charges led to a revelation that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had quietly authorized a payment of $103,000 in taxpayer funds to settle previous allegations by two other women against Lopez.
The controversy rocked the state’s political hierarchy and sparked an investigation by the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics.
The commission issued a 58-page report to the Legislative Ethics Commission and Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, who is operating as a special prosecutor.
A Donovan spokesman declined to comment on the report.
The report has not been released publicly, but some of its findings have been described to The Post, including an earlier report that Lopez even made comments about the sexy attire of a 14-year-old intern.
An official familiar with the findings said Lopez’s staffers were directed to send the glowing messages multiple times a day and if they didn’t, he would berate them publicly or in the office and in front of others.
Lopez maintained he did nothing wrong and said he would not resign.