Albany, NY – As the fallout continues from Speaker Silver’s involvement in authorizing a hushed payout of $103,080 in taxpayer monies to quietly settle an earlier harassment allegation against Assemblyman Vito Lopez, Republican State Chairman Ed Cox and other leading Republicans continue to call for an independent investigation into the matter.
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The Times Union (http://bit.ly/QUbs83) quotes Cox, saying, “I don’t know how harassment can be deemed to be in the line of duty. Now, Speaker Silver has said this was not only legal, it was ethical. I don’t understand the ethical — that’s just incomprehensible, that a hushed-up settlement with government money is ‘ethical.’ You then go to the question: was it legal?” He said. “Will the ethics commission deal with this in an expeditious way? And should it even be the ethics commission? They grind slowly…I don’t think the public of New York State, to which the government is accountable, will get an answer in the time frame they deserve an answer.”
In response to the immense criticism being levied against him, Silver issued the following statement today inviting an investigation by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE):
“I would welcome a JCOPE investigation, as a JCOPE inquiry would supersede any confidentiality agreements that exist and allow all of the facts to come out. Those facts will show that any decision by the Assembly to enter into any settlement agreement was both legal and ethical and made out of deference to the wishes of the complainants. In addition the Assembly has written to counsel in any previous settlement asking for a release from any confidentiality clauses that may exist so that we can legally and properly release to the public all information relating to any settlement and how it was reached.”
Wow! Is Shelly that stupid that the public would buy his explanation??? It’s bad enough that this was hush money for sexual misconduct, but at taxpayer expense, it’s the ultimate chutzpah!!!
The sleazy son-in-law of well known Jew hater and crooked President, Richard Nixon is throwing bricks from his glass house. This is the same guy who praised convicted Republicans. Yet, he is going after Silver for essentially doing the same thing that Mayor Bloomberg, several Governors and others have done when members of their administration faced similar charges. Corporate America (including public companies) have been doing it so often that they usually have a “personnel” staffer who specializes in these settlements. Silver admitted bad judgment but Cox and phone-hackers at the NY Post have hated the yarmulke wearing Silver for a long time and just want to get ride of him.
I want my NY state tax dollars to pay for better roads, schools and air, and not as a hush money slush fund for Silver’s buddies. Let’s investigate to see whom else he secretly helped.