Assemblyman Vito Lopez — who has been charged with sexually harassing female staffers — has come under fire from the National Organization for Women, which vowed to fight against his bid for a Brooklyn City Council seat.
“It is insulting and obscene that he would even consider running for City Council,” Sonia Ossorio, president of the National Organization for Women NYC, declared at a news conference yesterday.
In a preemptive strike, NOW endorsed another candidate for the seat, Antonio Reynoso.
The endorsement came as Lopez yesterday opened a campaign committee to run in November.
Reynoso used the opportunity to blast out a fund-raising e-mail, accusing the veteran pol of demonstrating “an unbelievable abuse of power.”
Lopez was a power broker in Brooklyn and Albany until four former female staffers last year claimed he sexually harassed them.
He was censured by the Assembly and is currently under two separate investigations into his alleged misconduct, which he has denied.
A report, not made public, details how he tried to arrange a hotel stay with at least one staffer, and other offenses, sources said.
Lopez goes into the council race with a major advantage: He can transfer much of his $1 million-plus in unspent funds from a state campaign account. Since council candidates can spend a maximum of $168,000, he probably won’t have to raise money.