The Ethical Fall
of Vito Lopez:
Implications for the Future of
Brooklyn Latino Politics
By Angelo Falcón (August 25, 2012)
Ethics: Moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior.
---Oxford Dictionary
The sudden
announcement of major ethical violations by Brooklyn power broker Vito
Lopez by the NYS Assembly of which he has been a member since 1984 took
everyone by surprise. It was widely known that he was being investigated
for funny business concerning his nonprofit, the Bushwick Ridgewood
Senior Citizens Council and its very very well-paid Director, his long-time girlfriend, Angela Battagli. But, to be severely censured by the Assembly for the sexual harassment of his female staff? No one really saw that coming!
This
situation makes it obligatory to point out that, despite his surname, he
is an Italian-American and not a Latino (although I understand that he
claims he has a grandparent from Spain). However, depending on his
immediate political fortunes, and calls for his resignation will no
doubt emerge as the county's district leaders prepare to meet as you
read this, this could have a profound impact on the nature of Latino
politics and politics in general in Brooklyn. But ever since Lopez was
diagnosed with Leukemia in 1993 and treated for the recurrence of cancer
in 2010, the Brooklyn political class has, in many cases begrudgingly,
learned over the years not to count him out prematurely.
His loss of
his chairmanship of the powerful Housing Committee, of his seniority and
eligibility to hold any leadership positions in the Assembly severely
undercut his influence in that body, and were made all that more
humiliating by his being barred from, get this, hiring any staff under
21 years of age or employing any interns. Besides his continued
viability as a state legislator, questions will no doubt quickly arise
as to his fitness to continue as Chair of the Kings County Democratic
Party (his predecessor in this position, by the way, was Clarence Norman
Jr., who is currently serving a prison sentence for three felony counts
of accepting illegal campaign contributions).
The recent
Democratic primary in Congressional district 7 largely covering northern
Brooklyn, where incumbent Nydia Velazquez readily beat back three
challengers, was generally viewed as a political battle between
Velazquez and surrogates for Vito Lopez (some even speculated that all
three of her challengers were put up by Lopez). The downfall of Lopez
would leave a political vacuum that favors a stronger local role for
politicians like Velazquez and the network of progressive reformers she
is associated with, whyich now includes term-limited Councilmember and
former Lopez chief of staff Diana Reyna. While it is difficult to
determine what will happen to the leadership of the county organization
at this point, the political demise of Lopez also means the at least
temporary weakening of the King County Democratic political machine.
This would
have immediate repercussions for the Dilan political family. Two strong
allies of Lopez are State Senator Martin Dilan and his son Councilmember
Erik Martin Dilan (as well as the younger Dilan's former chair of staff
and now Assemblyman Rafael Espinal). Senator Dilan is currently being
challenged in next month's Democratic primary by reformer Jason Otaño,
who is backed by Velazquez. Councilmember Dilan is term-limited and his
seat will be open, and it looks like Make the Road staffer Jesus
Gonzalez (who recently lost in a squeaker to Espinal for the Assembly)
will be making a run at that open seat. Then there is scandal-ridden
Bronx Assembywoman Naomi Rivera's current boyfriend, Tommy Torres, who
was reportedly planning a run to replace Reyna in the City Council with
the backing of Lopez.
There are
also the Latino politicos further south in the borough in the Sunset
Park area. These are Assemblyman Felix Ortiz and Councilmember Sara
Gonzalez. Ortiz is a politically shrewd character who will no doubt
maneuver his way well through whatever party leadership changes occur,
insulated in part by his relatively new role as head of the Assembly's
Puerto Rican/Hispanic Legislative Task Force and its Somos El Futuro
Conferences, and his role as President of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators.
Councilmember Gonzalez is up for reelection next year in a redistricted
district and her main concern will be negotiating a relationship with
the area's growing Asian population and White gentrifiers.
Will this
opening in the leadership of the Brooklyn Democratic machine create an
opportunity for a greater Latino role in running party politics in the
borough? Will Brooklyn White ethnic leaders like Borough President Marty
Markovitz and the Black leadership see this as a chance to more fully
partner with the county's growing Latino electorate? Will they see this,
as one witty boricua commentator told me, as an opportunity to finally replace Vito with a real Latino in place of a Latino "in last name only."
The political
repercussions of Lopez' fall from grace will be many, but it will be
interesting to see how it affects that nature of Latino politics in the
Brooklyn. It is significant that these days potentially progressive
political change seems to emerge more from the rubble of exposed scandal
and corruption rather than wholesome and principled civic engagement.
And it is sad to say that even the possibility of something positive
coming from these political disasters is never even assured.
Angelo Falcón
is President of the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP), for
which he edits The NiLP Network on Latino Issues. He is co-editor of the
book, Boricuas in Gotham: Puerto Ricans in the Making of Modern New York City.He can be reached at afalcon@latinopolicy.org.