The terms of the agreement, however, suggest that the Assembly could have proceeded with an ethics committee investigation, though it is clear nobody wanted that to happen. “The parties desire to resolve this matter without resort to litigation or any administrative proceeding of any sort,” the agreement says.

The Vito Lopez saga gets more sordid with every new revelation, proving that sometimes, it is the crime and the cover up.

If Lopez harassed women as he is accused of doing, he should resign his seat in the Assembly. But by all rights, Sheldon Silver should lose his leadership position over his cover-up of Lopez’s actions. Of course the odds of that happening aren’t looking that good:

The [State Joint Commission on Public Ethics] has begun a preliminary review of the matter, according to a person who was told of the review, but a vote of the panel’s 14 commissioners will be required before a full investigation can proceed and before subpoenas can be issued. The support of at least one of the three commissioners appointed by Mr. Silver will be needed to proceed with the investigation.

Mr. Restler’s opponent, longtime Greenpoint resident Christopher Olechowski, the Community Board chairman, didn’t respond to repeated phone calls.

Colin Campbell at Politicker has a long inside-baseball piece on the race for District Leader in 50th AD. A good piece, and well worth a read.

The race itself pits incumbent Lincoln Restler against Community Board 1 chair Chris Olechowski. I know both well, and both are genuinely good people. But this bit jumped out at me:

[Olechowski] declined to overly criticize the incumbent [Restler], simply saying he hasn’t heard much from Mr. Restler during his short tenure in office… “I don’t know what Lincoln has really done,” he opined.

Seriously? Campbell is right, “[the] irony, of course, is that despite all [of Restler’s] talk of accomplishment, district leaders aren’t really supposed to be doing things”. But Lincoln has taken a genuinely do-nothing job and used it as a bully pulpit for a lot of effective advocacy (and a lot of bashing of the Kings County political leadership). Chris, of course, does know what Lincoln has done, and he has heard a lot from Lincoln – Lincoln is at every event Chris attends and many, many more.

Gotham Gazette has an-depth look the candidates and issues in the special election for Assembly district 54.