Cuomo Wants Vito Lopez Out: Report

This article was written by Matthew Hampton. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has joined the chorus of cries begging "shame of Brooklyn" Assemblyman Vito Lopez to step down,reported The New York Times.

Lopez narrowly avoided criminal sexual harassment charges this week, after the special prosecutor appointed to handle his case said his behavior with female staffers never rose to the level of a crime.

But the governor is still having none of it, calling the allegations which came to light last year "sad" and "disturbing." The report in the Times indicated that Cuomo thinks Lopez should be expelled by the state Legislature if he won't step down himself — an idea he has thus far been entirely unwilling to entertain. 

Lopez has already been censured and has lost his leadership positions, though the recent report released by Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan said the Assembly itself has been silently complicit in allowing the pilloried assemblyman to continue his often mortifying behavior. 

"We do not tolerate this behavior in our House,” Cuomo said, according to the Times. “We don’t allow or condone that behavior here.