Secret Email Alleges That Orthodox NY State Assembly Speaker Had Adulterous Sexual Relationship With Married Orthodox Chief Of Staff

The NY State ethics committee that investigated sexual harassment allegations against Assemblyman Vito Lopez mysteriously omitted from its final report an email that is highly embarrassing to embattled Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, an Orthodox Jew.

New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver

The Daily News reports:

The [New York] state ethics committee that investigated sexual harassment allegations against Assemblyman Vito Lopez mysteriously omitted from its final report a document that is highly embarrassing to embattled Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, [an Orthodox Jew,] the Daily News has learned.

The document — a Feb. 14, 2012, email sent to Assembly lawyers from an attorney representing two Lopez staffers who accused Lopez of groping them — suggests Silver had an inappropriate relationship with a top aide.

The email, obtained by The News, claims Lopez “repeatedly” told one of the women “that he wanted their relationship to be the same as Mr. Silver’s to his Chief of Staff and was explicit in what that meant.”

The email also claims that the groping victims were so afraid of Silver and his chummy relationship with Lopez — and so upset that the Assembly had failed to “fully investigate” their allegations — that they declined an offer to take another job in the Assembly.

The note from lawyer Mariann Wang, who is the New York partner of celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, does not offer any proof that the Democratic speaker had a relationship with his chief of staff beyond the third-hand account attributed to Lopez, who was using it in an effort to seduce a staffer.

Silver’s chief of staff is longtime confidant Judy Rapfogel, who earns $153,385 a year and is widely seen to be among the speaker’s most loyal aides.

Rapfogel, who is married to William Rapfogel, chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, called the comments in the email “absurd and insulting to all women.”…

The Daily News report goes on to document Silver's mishandling of the allegations against Lopez and notes that mishandling exposed other women to harassment and mistreatment by Lopez.

Comments

[Max Ponzi (the one from Cedarhurst)]

I don't get it. Why don't you include the video that was made available to you? Are you also afraid of Shelly?

[The Commish]

"...lawyer Mariann Wang, who is the New York partner of celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred.."

Your ID says it all. Gloria Allred and her partners are all full of crap! I wouldn't believe anything they say!

[Sarek]

Shelly Silver has become an embarrassment to New York State. But, like many other state legislators, he has no shame. Because he reigns supreme, nobody can challenge his leadership. Those who did would find themselves isolated from the large Democratic majority and end up with no power and a tiny office budget.

[LESKid]

You sure he wasn't shtoping Pat Lynch? Frau Rapfogel was down on the LES cutting the kugel while Pat Lynch was in Albany available to keep him warm on long winter nights.

[WoolSilkCotton; I must be seen to be believed]

++The Commish | June 05, 2013 at 12:10 PM++

Gloria Allred and her firm win cases for their clients.And that is all that matters. Everything else you may not like about their personalities and antics is close to irrelevant.

[The Commish]

FoolSilkCotton,

You only hear about the cases she and her partners had won. Their losses, bad settlements, dropped cases & frivolous lawsuits, which there are many, are not as well publicized.

I knew Gloria Allred's dad, Mark C. Bloom the tire guy.

[dh]

Ooooh, so her daughter, Lisa Bloom, us using her maiden name. Is she some kind of orthodox? I always thought that thing on her head that doesn't move was a wig.

So, do tell, how many facelifts has Allred had?

[The Commish]

dh,
She's had so many facelifts that she now needs a crane to lift it! Just joking but it sure looks that way.