Lopez girlfriend likely to be replaced on City Planning

Angela Battaglia, a member of the City Planning Commission and longtime girlfriend of embattled former Assemblyman Vito Lopez, will likely lose her post by year’s end, Crain’s reported. Not only has Battaglia’s position been on holdover for nearly a year since her last term expired, but a source also told Crain’s that she is guilty by association with the sex scandal-plagued Lopez.

“There are no indications that she did anything wrong,” the anonymous source told Crain’s. “[But] I don’t think the mayor wants his legacy to be tarnished by that kind of appointment, year-end.”

Lopez was forced to give up his housing committee chairmanship, then his head position of Brooklyn’s Democratic Party and then his seat on the Assembly when allegations of sexual harassment of female staffers surfaced last year.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who did not reappoint Battaglia for a new City Planning term, has no political reason to do so before he leaves office this year, Crain’s said.

All in all, Battaglia’s chances for getting a new term are “zero to none,” another anonymous source told Crain’s.

Neither Battaglia nor a spokesperson for the mayor responded to Crain’s requests for comment. [Crain’s] —Zachary Kussin