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ALBANY — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver offered to break bread over breakfast with women in his Democratic conference in the wake of the Vito Lopez sex- harassment scandal.
But what he ate was some humble pie.
Several of the women described the meeting as a “venting” session and said they used the opportunity to express their displeasure over Silver’s mishandling of initial harassment complaints filed against ex-Assemblyman Lopez by two young female staffers.
“It was mostly an opportunity for the women to say what they were feeling and everyone said something different,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, a Democrat from Scarsdale. “There was definitely a sentiment that young women employed by the Assembly should feel safe and proud to work here.”
Those close to Silver said he was looking to assuage fears that no other young women would fall prey to pervy lawmakers like Lopez, who sexually harassed as many as eight female staffers, a state ethics committee concluded earlier this month.
Inviting the women legislators to his personal conference room, Silver reiterated that he had made mistakes in handling the Lopez case by green-lighting a confidential, $103,080, taxpayer-funded settlement to two of Lopez’s initial accusers that required them to stay silent.
Soon after the women left the jobs, Lopez hired new staffers and treated them increasingly worse, the Joint Committee on Public Ethics found.
Sources said the Democratic assemblywomen were spitting fire at Silver during an earlier caucus. The tone of yesterday’s breakfast seemed to be congenial.
Silver’s spokesman tried to downplay the significance of the breakfast with only female Dems, insisting it was routine.
“The speaker regularly has meetings with members, and it is always good to hear their ideas and talk about how we can move forward on issues important to them,” said Silver spokesman Michael Whyland.
But not all women in the conference were welcome.
Brooklyn Assemblywoman Inez Barron, who became the second member of the Democratic conference to publicly call for Silver to step down as speaker, wasn’t invited.
“No one told me,” Barron told The Post. “In the past, he’s met with smaller groups — to make it more manageable — but hasn’t made it gender specific. So that’s new.”
Barron, the wife of City Councilman Charles Barron, said she sent a letter to the speaker calling for his resignation — knowing it will never happen — because she “wanted her voice on record.”
Immediately after the JCOPE report was released, Buffalo Assemblyman Michael Kearns said he will quit the Democratic conference unless Silver steps down.
Like Inez Barron, Kearns didn’t support Silver for speaker and wasn’t considered to be part of the “mainstream” Democratic circle.
Meanwhile, support for Silver among Democrats in general is less than enthusiastic.