ALBANY — Under fire for sex-harassment charges, State Assemblyman Vito Lopez is planning a political strategy session with allies next week that could propel him toward a run for City Council — or retirement by the end of the year.
At the state Capitol yesterday to vote on the new state budget, the ex-Brooklyn Democratic boss — who is battling thyroid cancer and two new growths on the brain — strongly hinted he’ll either run for City Council in November or retire from the Assembly by the end of the year.
“It is increasingly more difficult for me to travel back and forth to Albany,” said Lopez (right), facing ethics and criminal investigations into allegations that he sexually harassed female Assembly aides last year.
“In the last eight months, I’ve gotten pneumonia twice,” Lopez said in the Assembly. “I’m continuing to have cancer-related problems, and I find it extremely difficult to sustain even another year here.”
He said he hasn’t “really” read the yet-to-be-released state ethics report, but continued to insist its charges are false.
Among colleagues who shook Lopez’s hand in the Assembly yesterday was Charles Lavine, the Nassau Democrat who co-chairs the Legislative Ethics Commission — which is overseeing the Lopez investigation.
“I told him I hoped he was feeling well,” Lavine said.