ICYMI, here is my story from Saturday's paper:
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver admits he mishandled the Vito Lopez sexual-harassment scandal ? but state taxpayers will have to pick up the tab for the fallout.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman informed Silver this week that he?s eligible to have the state pay his mounting legal expenses as well as any judgements or settlements as he fights at least two lawsuits filed against him by women who say they were victimized by Lopez, a source said.
The attorney general typically represents state officials in legal matters but, in a letter to Silver this week, Schneiderman wrote that his office plans to sit out the Lopez matter. Schneiderman says he can?t participate because his aides advised Silver?s office in 2012 as it approved a secret settlement for the first Lopez victims who came forward.
That $103,000 secret settlement is key to the lawsuits since the two women who filed suit said the settlement prevented them from knowing Lopez?s history when they went to work for him.
Silver authorized the settlement without referring the matter to the Assembly ethics committee as required.
Though Schneiderman can?t represent Silver, he informed the speaker he has a right to state-funded representation because state law authorizes the common practice of providing counsel to employees sued as part of his official business.
The news had some Silver critics steaming. ?It?s crazy,? said Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-SI). ?The taxpayers shouldn?t have to shell out money for his defense all because he didn?t follow the rules he put in place.?
Lopez is not so lucky. In a separate letter, the source said, the attorney general took the rare step of telling Lopez that his legal fees will not be covered by the state since his creepy behavior was not done within the scope of his official duties.
Lopez, whose lawyer did not respond to a request for comment, resigned in scandal in May after a scathing investigation found he had groped and harassed as many as eight women in his office since 2010.
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