Staffer Poses as a Lady Blogger to Defend Assemblyman Against Sexual Harassment Scandal

A New York State Assembly staffer’s admirable attempt at subterfuge failed pretty hard on Monday, when it was revealed that he’d impersonated a female blogger in order to more convincingly defend Speaker Sheldon Silver. As some of ye faithful readers may remember, according to the New York Times, Silver had authorized a secret payment of $103,080 to settle sexual harassment claims against egomaniacal Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez earlier this year.

WYNC reported that a spokesperson for Speaker Silver said that the staffer, Bill Eggler, revealed that his were the fingers behind blogger “Sophia Walker,” who wrote for a web magazine called “The Last Goddess.” As Walker, Eggler described media scrutiny over Silver’s secret payoff to two women who’d accused Lopez of sexual harassment “a faux scandal.” Apparently, Eggler embarked on this brand of internet vigilantism on his own initiative.

Eggler’s primary responsibility is to answer correspondence to the Assembly, and, while he won’t be losing his job, Silver gave him an official reprimand and then took away his internet privileges, effectively turning Eggler into an office drone circa 1989.