A sad, but amusing article in the Buffalo News today says that with New York’s capital city, with its fair share of sex scandals, has earned the label of “Sin City.”

A former legislative aide accuses an assemblyman of sexually harassing her.

An underage intern accuses an assemblyman of raping her in a hotel room, then recants and says it was consensual, although he gave her alcohol.

An aide to the Assembly’s top leader is accused of raping two women, and the assemblyman stands by him until very recently.

The governor resigns as a federal investigation uncovers he had been seeking the services of high-price prostitutes. His successor admits that he and his wife had had affairs.

And now a Buffalo assemblyman admits he had been unfaithful to his wife several years ago but says his conduct did not violate any laws or State Legislature rules.

What is going on in Albany? According to longtime Albany insiders, the state capital has more than earned its nickname “Sin City.”

“Albany is a conducive environment to this kind of thing,” said Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director of the League of Women Voters of New York State, who has spent 28 years in Albany. “That may be true of every capital in the nation. You have a lot of powerful people, and young people tend to be attracted to powerful men.”

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I moved to Buffalo the day before Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace. As much as I despised the man, it was unfortunate to be welcomed to New York when its top executive was forced to resign. It’s just really unfortunate Albany is more of a city of elected officials doing monkey business rather than the people’s business.

But, I guess they’re all private matters, right? 

UPDATE: More at Albany’s Insanity.

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Even though the Buffalo News reported otherwise, an attorney for the woman in question confirmed she was in fact an intern when the affair began.

In response to allegations that he had an affair a number of years ago with a college intern in Albany, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt in a statement said his past actions “were unfortunate,” but he offered no specifics about what he had done.

On Friday, 2 On Your Side spoke with an attorney for the woman in question. In January of 2003, the woman began a college internship in the office of Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward.

At the time the woman was 24 years old. It was then that she met Hoyt.

Scott Brown: “When did the relationship start, and what was your client doing at the time?”

Brian Barrett: “It’s my understanding my client met the assemblyman in the early to mid-part of 2003, whe she was working as an intern for an assemblywoman.”

Brown: “Did the relationship continue after her internship ended?”

Barrett: “Yes. The relationship did continue for some period of time after my client had ceased working as an intern for the assembly.”

Brown: “What has this past week been like for her with all of this publicity?”

Barrett: “Well it’s a non-event to my client, she never wanted this to certainly come to the media’s attention, this relationship concluded more than three years ago.”

Hoyt in a statement said he “broke no rules” of the Assembly.

And Bill Clinton did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky. 

Meanwhile, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown denies any involvement in the Hoyt brouhaha:

Just who is responsible for leaking information about Buffalo Assemblyman Sam Hoyt’s alleged affairs with interns? Some have suggested Mayor Brown may be. Brown says “no truth to it whatsoever, unfortunately Assemblyman Hoyt did what he did and I don’t think anyone made him do what he did.” 

The allegations of Hoyt’s affairs with two interns were first posted on PoliticsWNY.net published by Joseph Illuzzi. Brown says he hasn’t spoken with Illuzzi in at least a couple of months.

The woman/former intern, Lori Gladwell, was apparently had apparently been angry at Hoyt for cheater on her with other women, and sent copies of their conversations to Hoyt’s supporters:

Lori Gradwell was in intern for Assemblyman Sam Hoyt until she found he was having an affair with another intern. It seems that Gradwell could not stand the thought of Hoyt cheating, because Sam Hoyt was married. But she did not get angry for him cheating on his wife; she was angry for him cheating on her.

So, to get even, Lori Gradwell sent copies of some of their most explicit e-mails to all of Hoyt’s supporters.

Three years later, she has had her lawyer send letters to major media outlets in New York requesting they respect her privacy and not disclose the e-mails.

But those e-mails have gone public, much against Lori Gradwell’s wishes. But, then, as the New York Times observed, “Who does plan for their X-rated e-mail messages to go public?” 

Only those dumb enough to send them to “all of” anyone.

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Spitzer Linked To Second Prostitution Ring

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Looks like the state of New York can never catch a break. With the slimy Spitzer just barely out of office we learn this about the newly inaugurated governor of the Empire State.

The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state’s new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.

In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago.

In the course of several interviews in the past few days, Paterson said he maintained a relationship for two or three years with “a woman other than my wife,” beginning in 1999.

As part of that relationship, Paterson said, he and the other woman sometimes stayed at an upper West Side hotel — the Days Inn at Broadway and W. 94th St.

That’s not even the worst part of it:

Gov. Paterson denies using state or campaign money to pay for liaisons with another woman during a rocky patch in his marriage.

Records show that in September 2001, then-Sen. Paterson’s campaign spent $456.46 for two nights at what was then called the Quality Hotel at 215 W. 94th St.

One check was dated Sept. 10 — the day before the 9/11 attacks — and the other Sept. 24. Both are listed as “office” expenses.

In an earlier interview with the Daily News, Paterson mentioned that his campaign paid for a staffer to stay at the hotel around the time of 9/11.

He said he did not remember the exact dates, but he acknowledged putting up one staffer there the day of the attack and another the day before the Democratic primary, which was Sept. 25, 2001.

Who knows if there’s anything to those allegations or not, but regardless, this is hardly the kind of news New Yorkers want to hear after the Spitzer Scandal.

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