When Speaker Sheldon Silver authorized $103,000 be paid to the alleged sexual-harassment victims of Assemblyman Vito Lopez, his office said the secret payout was the only one of its kind. It wasn’t.
In 1992 a young Assembly aide claimed she was harassed by her boss. Three years later Speaker Silver arranged for a quiet $85,000 payment to make it go away.
“Shelly doesn’t give a damn about women,” said a source close to the case.
“You can be in the same room with him, and it’s like you don’t exist. He is a creepy, soulless individual. You can put your hand through him.”
At the center of the scandal was Charmian Neary, a petite, blond assistant who worked for Manhattan Democratic Assemblyman Mark Alan Siegel from January to July 1990.
Neary charged that her married boss continually discussed sex with her and her female colleagues and tried to convince Neary to have an affair with him. In 1993, after a legislative probe of her accusations went nowhere, she filed a lawsuit against the Assembly.
In 1995, Silver, who had become speaker a year earlier, arranged for the settlement.
The source said Silver was closely involved in the settlement and ‘sent out his surrogates’ to discredit Neary.