Embattled state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his political operatives squeezed business fat cats, labor leaders and lobbyists for campaign cash at a swank fund-raiser at The Plaza Hotel yesterday, just as the Assembly is about to pass a campaign-finance reform bill.
Asked if having such a lavish spread was in bad taste in light of recent Albany scandals, Silver said, “I don’t think it’s a lavish spread.”
Even at the Plaza?
Donors were asked to give a minimum of $1,000 per head or maximum of $25,000 for a table of 10.
The speaker said the hotel was “the cheapest place we could find.”
Silver was sued Thursday by two young women who claimed they were sexually harassed while working for disgraced ex-Assemby member and Democratic Party Chair Vito Lopez.
The lawsuit alleges that the speaker’s actions aided and abetted Lopez’s pervy acts by quietly settling sexual-harassment complaints filed against Lopez by two other former staff members.
Silver declined comment on the lawsuits.