Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who is under the spotlight because his nonprofit paid his girlfriend and another employee Pedro Espada Jr.-style salaries, was re-elected as the Brooklyn Democratic party boss. The night was filled with drama: Brooklyn Paper reports that not only did Lopez reveal his cancer is back, but the New Kings Democrats tried to get Lopez to resign! Matt Cowherd, who founded the group, said, "Lopez does all he can to operate our local Democratic Party in the least democratic way possible. He sends out paper proxies encouraging county committee members to skip the biennial meeting, and whenever possible, he packs the state committee with human proxies."
State Senate candidate Lincoln Restler, who faced off against a Lopez-backed candidate (and currently leading by 85 votes), added, "Three of Brooklyn's past four Democratic Party bosses have been indicted on charges of corruption, and if the recent news about current Party Boss, Vito Lopez, is any indication, he is likely to meet the same fate. Brooklyn deserves a better brand of politics."
The recent news being questions about $343,000 in fraudulent or sketchy claims submitted to the city by the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council and affiliated groups. (And then there are the tapes of him basically threatening old ladies for their votes.) Now, a former custodian at the RBSCC claims that he was fired after he backed a candidate Lopez opposed.
As it happens, Lopez does not like it when reporters inquire about his health. WNYC's Azi Paybarah has video of Lopez calling one such reporter who dared ask him how he was doing (you know, because of the cancer and everything) "a real sick lady."
