Erie County's Republican party chairman says democratic State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver should go in the wake of the burgeoning sex scandal in his legislative house.
Two new government reports say the Speaker covered up sexual harassment by Vito Lopez, a former assemblyman as of Monday, and the state treasury paid the victims more than $100,000 in compensation.
Silver now says it was a mistake to cover up for former Brooklyn democratic chairman Lopez. Hours after Lopez quit, Assemblyman Mickey Kearns left the democratic conference and called on the Speaker to quit.
"If you have a speaker that is more focused on reputation than doing what's right, you have someone who is not focused on the best interest of the taxpayers of Western New York," said Nick Langworthy, county republican party chairman.
Langworthy said local democratic assembly members should say if they back Silver.
"We have a speaker that has a pattern of covering up sex scandals and using taxpayer dollars...our taxpayer dollars...to settle these cases outside of the light of day and, $103,000 of taxpayer money was spent to buy the silence of several of Mr. Lopez' victims," said Langworthy.
Langworthy held a news conference outside Assemblyman Sean Ryan's district office to attack the Buffalo democrat and demand he turn on Silver. Ryan didn't return a phone call asking for comment.
