Sheldon Silver

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Sheldon Silver
119th Speaker of the New York State Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 11, 1994
Governor Mario Cuomo
George Pataki
Eliot Spitzer
David Paterson
Andrew Cuomo
Preceded by Saul Weprin
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 65th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
2013
Preceded by Micah Kellner
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 64th district
In office
2003–2012
Preceded by Richard Gottfried
Succeeded by Nicole Malliotakis
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 62nd district
In office
1983–2002
Preceded by Paul Viggiano
Succeeded by Robert Straniere
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 63rd district
In office
1977–1982
Preceded by Anthony DiFalco
Succeeded by Steven Sanders
Personal details
Born (1944-02-13) February 13, 1944
Lower East Side, New York City, New York
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Rosa
Residence New York City
Alma mater Brooklyn Law School
Religion Orthodox Judaism
Website Assembly Website

Sheldon "Shelly" Silver (born February 13, 1944) is an American lawyer and Democratic politician from New York. He has held the office of Speaker of the New York State Assembly since 1994.

Personal life

An Orthodox Jew of eastern European descent, Silver has lived all his life on Manhattan's Lower East Side. He lives with his wife Rosa a few blocks from their children and her parents.

He graduated from the Rabbi Jacob Joseph High School on Manhattan's Henry Street. He was athletic and captain of the basketball team. He spent his undergraduate years at Yeshiva University and obtained a law degree from Brooklyn Law School. By the time he became Speaker of the Assembly, he was known to play basketball with other high-ranking officials, including former Governor Mario Cuomo and Alan G. Hevesi the former New York State Comptroller. In addition to his duties in the Assembly he is an Of Counsel member in the Manhattan personal injury law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg.[1]

Political career

Silver was first elected to the Assembly in 1976, and became Speaker on February 11, 1994. He replaced Saul Weprin, who had suffered a stroke. He represents the 65th Assembly District, comprising much of lower Manhattan, notably the former World Trade Center site.

He was the chairman of the Assembly's Ways and Means Committee from 1992 to 1994, selected after Weprin replaced former Speaker Mel Miller.[2] In December 1993, he criticized then New York City Mayor-Elect Rudy Giuliani's appointment for budget director, Abraham M. Lackman, as "a person whose primary function [as director of fiscal studies for the State Senate Finance Committee] has been to limit the benefits for New York City."[3]

Silver was instrumental in the reinstatement of the death penalty in New York State in 1995. The bill passed was ruled unconstitutional by the New York State Court of Appeals (see People v. LaValle), as the law stipulated that if jurors were deadlocked between sentences of life without parole and execution, the court would sentence the defendant to life imprisonment with parole eligibility after serving 20 to 25 years. The Court ruled that in such a case, execution would seem unfairly preferable to the jury. New York's crime rate had dropped significantly in the 10 years since the law was passed, without seeing an execution. Silver let the law expire in 2005 without much debate.[4] In December 2005, after two New York City police officers were killed in as many months, Pataki called for reinstatement of the death penalty. The New York Times quoted Silver's spokesman Charles Carrier as saying, "He no longer supports [capital punishment] because Assembly hearings have shown it is not the most effective way to improve public safety.[5]

In 1999, Silver was instrumental in the repeal of New York City's commuter tax, which taxed non-resident workers similarly to city residents. This was a great benefit to those commuting to work in the city from surrounding areas, but came at a tremendous cost to his own NYC constituents. Silver was criticized by[6] city leaders for removing the tax, and though after 9/11 he has suggested he would support reinstating it, he has taken no steps to do so.

In 2000, Silver faced an attempted coup in the Assembly as members, primarily from Upstate New York, tried to overthrow him. Michael Bragman, one of the leaders of the backlash, lost his position as majority leader of the Assembly[7]

In July 2007, Silver was a key voice of opposition to Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing program and when a meeting of the Democratic Assembly Conference indicated the proposal lacked support, Silver declined to schedule a vote on the measure and it died. Although Silver personally stated that he would have "probably would have voted for the bill" on congestion pricing, a majority of his conference strongly opposed the proposed plan.[8] Proponents argued it would reduce traffic congestion and vehicle emissions, lead to less crowded streets, and raise much-needed funds for public transportation, while opponents objected to the notion of a new driving tax.

Silver, in his role as Speaker, has been widely blamed for the delay in passing A04146A through the Assembly to legalize professional MMA in New York State.[9][10] Silver and NY State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (both Democrats supported by UNITE HERE) have opposed legalizing MMA.[11][12]

In 2008, he had his first Democratic primary in over two decades beating his challengers, Paul Newell and Luke Henry, winning 7,037 votes. Newell and Henry received 2,401 and 891 votes respectively. He was reelected on November 4 with 27,632 votes. His Republican challenger, Danniel Maio, who received 7,387 votes.

Criticism

In 2000, an editorial written in response to the failed 2000 coup against his power in The Buffalo News attributed Silver with having too much power:

The problem–which also exists in the State Senate–can be boiled down to a single overarching issue: The Assembly speaker has too much power. He controls everything, from the legislation that can be voted on to how his normally docile members vote on it. He decides what the Assembly will accept in a state budget. He negotiates secretly with the other two leaders to hammer out important, expensive and far-reaching laws. And he ignores the wishes of less exalted lawmakers.[7]

Silver has long been criticized for his employment with Weitz & Luxenberg, one of the state's larger litigation firms. This has led some to accuse Silver of having a conflict of interest, as he has consistently blocked medical malpractice and other tort reform in Albany. Weitz & Luxenberg insists that Silver's ties with the firm are "negligible" but Silver has refused to disclose the details of his employment or the salary he receives from the law firm.[13]

In 2005, commentator Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Channel lambasted Silver for blocking legislation that would mandate restrictions on child molesters after their sentences are finished (including possibly forcing them to become permanent residents in psychiatric wards).[14]

In May, 2006, when legislators proposed a law to eliminate the state's 5-year statute of limitations on rape charges, Silver tied the legislation to a proposal to eliminate a 10-year statute on filing civil lawsuits. In the ensuing controversy, then gubernatorial candidate Elliot Spitzer sided against Silver saying "...the two should not be held hostage, one to the other."

A former top aide to Silver, J. Michael Boxley, has been accused of raping two women while he was working for the speaker. Silver was said to have assisted in failing to properly investigate the Crothers case and of tolerating a culture of sexual harassment in the Assembly. In 2006, Mr. Silver and the Assembly leadership agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit regarding this matter.[15]

After the resignation of State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi in December 2006, Silver and Governor Eliot Spitzer attempted to work on a compromise on the appointment of a new Comptroller. According to the New York State constitution, the full legislature (Assembly and Senate) takes a majority vote for the replacement of certain Statewide offices. However, Silver has enough Democrats in his conference to pass anything he wants in a joint session without any Senate votes at all, giving him enormous power. The alleged deal was that a Blue Ribbon panel would formulate a list of up to five nominees. The panel, partially consisting of three former comptrollers, Edward V. Regan, H. Carl McCall, and former New York City Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin, ultimately put forward three candidates, none of whom were members of the State legislature. They were: Nassau County Comptroller, Howard S. Weitzman, commissioner of the New York City Department of Finance, Martha E. Stark, and William J. Mulrow, an investment banker who ran for state comptroller in 2002.[16]

Silver, expressing disappointment in what he deemed as a broken promise by Spitzer, organized the legislature to approve sitting Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli as the new state comptroller.[17]

Spitzer attacked Silver and the Legislature for their maneuver, until he resigned from office due to a prostitution scandal.[18][19]

In September 2008, a married upstate assemblyman Sam Hoyt was "sanctioned" for having an "inappropriate personal relationship" with an intern, during which Hoyt refereed to himself as a "human lollipop" in eMails.[20] Hoyt was forbidden to keep interns and currently works a with the New York State Bridge Authority under Andrew Cuomo.


See also

  • List of members of the New York State Assembly

References

  1. Weitz and Luxenberg PC
  2. Verhovek, Sam Howe (1992-01-08), Manhattan Assemblyman Wins Ways and Means Chairmanship, The New York Times 
  3. Finder, Alan (1993-12-09), Giuliani Names Albany Adviser As Budget Chief, The New York Times 
  4. Capital Punishment, 1995–2005, editorial, The New York Daily News, 2005-04-13 
  5. Hu, Winnie (2005-12-17), Pataki Wants Death Penalty for Killers of Police, The New York Times 
  6. New York Fiscal Watch
  7. 7.0 7.1 The Winner and Still King, The Buffalo News, 2000-05-25 
  8. Paybarah, Azi. "Congestion Drip: Is Sheldon Silver the Man to Blame?". Observer. Retrieved 2013-08-02. 
  9. 10:06. "Sheldon Silver – Mixed Martial Arts Blog – ESPN". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2013-08-02. 
  10. Kevin Iole (2012-05-28). "MMA in New York? Not until assembly speaker Sheldon Silver's gone ... – Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2013-08-02. 
  11. Bill McMorris (2013-03-13). "New York AG backs ban on MMA | Washington Free Beacon". Freebeacon.com. Retrieved 2013-08-02. 
  12. "The Unions’ Battle Against Mixed Martial Arts (And New Yorkers)". Mediaite. 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-08-02. 
  13. Paybarah, Azi (2006-05-19), Spitzer Seeks Compromise On Rape Cases, New York Sun 
  14. McGuire, Brian (2005-07-20), Silver Dismisses O'Reilly's Charge That He Is the "Worst Politician in America, New York Sun 
  15. Hakim, Danny (2008-07-14), Two Accusers of an Ex-Aide Join an Effort to Oust Silver, The New York Times 
  16. Confessore, Nicholas (2007-01-26), State Panel Selects 3 Likely Comptrollers, The New York Times 
  17. Cooper, Michael (2007-02-08), Legislators Pick a Comptroller, Defying Spitzer, The New York Times 
  18. Fenner, Austin; Mahoney, Joe (2007-02-12), Bulldog Spitzer rips pol, New York Daily News 
  19. Hakim, Danny (2007-02-13), On Tour to Talk Up Budget Plan, Spitzer Stays on Attack, The New York Times 
  20. Lovett, Kenneth. "Sam Hoyt, New York state Assemblyman from Buffalo, hand-slapped over sex with intern". Daily News. 

External links

New York Assembly
Preceded by
Anthony DiFalco
New York State Assembly, 63rd District
1977–1982
Succeeded by
Steven Sanders
Preceded by
Paul Viggiano
New York State Assembly, 62nd District
1983–2002
Succeeded by
Robert Straniere
Preceded by
Richard Gottfried
New York State Assembly, 64th District
2003–2012
Succeeded by
Nicole Malliotakis
Preceded by
Micah Kellner
New York State Assembly, 65th District
2013–present
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Saul Weprin
Speaker of the New York State Assembly
1994 -
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Lines of succession
Preceded by
Dean Skelos
Temporary President of the State Senate
Governor of New York
3rd in line

Speaker of the New York State Assembly
Succeeded by
End of Line
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