Proud to be a New Yorker.

Former New York Assemblyman Vito Lopez is probably no more of a piece of garbage than any state's lowest, creepiest slimeball legislator. Every state in the union has someone like him: a tin-plated glad-hander who thinks he's a man of the people and a man for the ladies, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Two former staffers sued after the scum weasel harassed them. He probably thought he was irresistible.

Think again.

The great news for the people of New York State is that WE get to chip in to pay the plaintiffs more than half a million dollars to settle the lawsuits. Thanks, Vito! That's some fine legislating there!

Part of the reason we're on the hook for this jackass's behavior is that the women wisely included longtime Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver in the lawsuit. Sheldon the Felon was recently arrested following a federal probe that he used his power to send business to a law firm to which he was connected, a firm that was so grateful it sent him a big fruit basket. Oops, I meant half a million dollars. Or maybe there was a fruit basket too. He protected Vito over the years---there were as many as eight women known to be at the pointy end of Vito's attention---and now we have to pay.

Personally, I can understand why we're on the hook, but if we can't just use Shelly's slush fund to pay for it (conveniently about the same amount of cash), I think it should be solely the responsibility of voters in the 53rd and 65th Assembly districts---Vito's and Shelly's, respectively. They kept sending this asswipes to Albany. Let them have the bill. Whatever my representatives have been up to, they've at least been smart enough to not get caught yet.

Oh, yes, I'm proud to be a New Yorker this morning. Most state capitals are packed with sleazeballs, but at ours you could probably throw a rock and indict whomever it hits.