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Kiss off, Sophia!
Assemblyman Sheldon Silver’s office yesterday dressed down staff writer Bill Eggler, who used a female alter ego in media blog postings to defend the speaker from charges he improperly funneled hush money to two of Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s sex-harassment accusers.
The Post yesterday exposed Eggler’s deceptive championing of Silver under the Web handle “Sophia Walker.”
A close friend of Eggler identified him as the man behind the heavy political/sci-fi blog site GoddessSophiaWalker.com and related Facebook page Last Goddess Magazine.
Sophia Walker and Last Goddess postings lashing out at Silver critics were sent to The Post on Sept. 20 and the Albany Times Union’s Capitol Confidential blog in early September. The postings linked back to Eggler’s blog and Facebook sites.
A contrite Eggler, 48, yesterday confessed and confirmed to his Assembly bosses The Post’s findings that he was the man behind Silver’s apologist Sophia.
And because Eggler did some of his secret Web site handiwork during office hours, the Assembly is revoking his privileges to use the Internet during the work day, sources said.
“The employee [Eggler] is being formally reprimanded, his access to the Internet has been taken away, and we are reminding all Assembly employees about our Internet-usage policy,” said Silver spokesman Michael Wyland.
Insiders said Eggler, a 15-year Assembly veteran who works in the speaker’s correspondence unit, was stunned after landing on The Post’s front page.
“[Eggler] understood the inappropriateness of his actions. The actions of employees reflect on the Assembly,” the source said.
“He said that he did it. He pretty much admitted that he was sending the stuff out,” an insider said, referring to the media postings. “He was clearly on the sites during work hours.”
Silver insisted he did not know that Eggler was vicariously backing him online through his lady alter ego, Sophia.
“In no way does the speaker condone this,” said Wyland.
Friends of Eggler were shocked by his silly media pranks. They described him as an intelligent guy who’s an “amazing writer” and “genius,” noting that he went to NYU Film School and has a Master’s degree in political science.
“I kind of laughed when i first saw this — how crazy is this? He was defending his boss,” said one Eggler pal.