New York Democrats continue to pour in to Charlotte this morning (several state lawmakers arrived after the delegation breakfast) and naturally the talk is the growing scandal that’s swirling around Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who authorized a $103,000 secret settlement for one of the alleged victims that he now says he regrets keeping confidential, is expected to be in town later this afternoon.

He is expected to talk to the New York-based press that has set up camp at the DNC.

But Assemblyman Keith Wright, the co-chairman of the state Democratic Party, says he doesn’t think the Lopez scandal is much of a distraction compared to a tropical storm that cancelled the first day of the Republican Convention in Tampa.

“We are Democrats,” Wright said. “We’re here to elect our president. It’s not going to overshadow anything. Hurricane Isaac was a distraction for the Republicans. We don’t have any distractions.”

Lopez certainly isn’t thing on the scale of a natural disaster, and the scandal is not canceling any convention plans. But these conventions are tightly scripted and news-free. Lopez’s troubles and the involvement of state officials gives us reporters something of substance to ask about.

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