A well-informed Democratic insider tells me that U.S. Senator Schumer, himself an alumni from the NYS Assembly, believes that the lower house of the State Legislature will need to remove Vito Lopez. However, it is unclear if Schumer will call for it outright or if it’s simply his opinion as to where this case is going next.
Wheter Schumer is calling for it or not, the national press wants answers from NY Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for approving a state-funded $103K settlement on behalf of Vito Lopez, the not-so-disgraced Democratic Assemblyman from Brooklyn. Indeed, it was at the DNC convention in North Carolina where Mr. Silver informed reporters late Monday that Lopez has recently as Friday rejected his call to resign from the Assembly, and that he may be forced to remove Lopez.
Early on Monday, the NYDN reported that Mr. Silver will keep his “major role” at the DNC, but apparently the Lopez story got ahead of him, sending reporters and journalists to ask him what he plans to do with Lopez and why he approved the deal which is now a hot potato for the Speaker, the State’s AG and the Comptroller, all Dems. Feeling the heat, apparently, Silver suggested late Monday that if Lopez won’t resign his Assembly seat, he will do what is appropriate and legal to dump Lopez.
