Sheldon Silver

This summer I wrote about the need for increased public subsidies for mass transit and about the importance of keeping transit fares as low as possible. Due to over borrowing for capital improvements during the Pataki administration and the reduction in revenues from the City's real-estate transfer tax, estimates of the size of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's budget deficit continue to grow. The most recent estimate is for $1.2 billion in red ink next year. The MTA has proposed a "doomsday budget" of massive fare increases and widespread service reductions. They are hoping that the prospect of higher prices for less service will somehow scare the courageous and forward-looking leaders in Albany into action.  read more »

ALBANY—Lobbying queen Patricia Lynch announced in an embossed postcard that her firm has opened a New York City office.  read more »

ALBANY—He hasn't declared victory, but Eric Massa is certainly acting like a congressman.  read more »

ALBANY—David Paterson said yesterday's public leaders meeting was "the closest that I’ve ever seen in public to an actual leaders meeting."

Susan Arbetter's New York Now posted this video, which, from where I was sitting yesterday, includes all the highlights.

See for yourself.  read more »

ALBANY—For the first time since the state's fiscal situation really began to slip, legislative leaders will be accompanying Governor David Paterson as he heads to Washington to lobby for federal aid.  read more »

ALBANY—Fred Dicker, the combative state editor of the New York Post, caught David Paterson off guard.

“Governor, have you ever been accused of being a child of the Enlightenment?” Dicker said toward the end of a 20-minute radio interview with Paterson on the morning of Nov. 18. “Because children of the Enlightenment believe that rational persuasion can actually make a difference.  read more »

ALBANY—As legislators grappled on Monday night to position themselves on David Paterson's proposed cuts, some conferences also re-elected their leaders.

Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, a Republican from Schenectady, was unanimously appointed to another two-year term in charge of his conference, which he has led since 2005.  read more »

ALBANY—The possibility of action to bridge New York's multi-billion dollar deficit grows slimmer by the minute.

Unable to win passage of any package - his own or a compromise - David Paterson late Monday balked on plans to have lawmakers vote during a special session and called legislative leaders back to the negotiating table.  read more »

ALBANY—David Paterson said he is "disappointed" with the actions of the legislature ahead of a special session that will begin tomorrow with the goal of attempting to bridge an expected $1.5 billion year-end deficit in the budget.  read more »

ALBANY—The political reality of David Paterson implementing his proposed cuts may be difficult.  read more »

ALBANY—The New York State United Teachers union, which has made no bones about its displeasure with David Paterson's call to cut funding for education, is not ruling out an advertising blitz against him.  read more »

Score it a victory for common sense: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, resisting the siren call of faux populism, has withdrawn his support for a big tax hike on New Yorkers who make more than $1 million a year. Mr. Silver’s decision means that the plan is dead. May it rest in peace.

As recently as this past August, Mr. Silver seemed willing to go along with a plan to add two new tax brackets designed to squeeze more tax revenue from the well-to-do. Under a plan cooked up by some of the so-called progressives in Mr. Silver’s caucus, the state would have increased the tax rate on incomes between $1 million and $5 million to 7.  read more »

David Paterson issues more stern warnings about the economy and the state budget today, calling for legislators to make an additional $2 billion in cuts during  read more »

Five firemen and one officer were “admonished and instructed” on the rules about politicking after they were filmed wearing FDNY uniforms and carrying food into Sheldon Silver’s campaign office on Primary Day last month, according to FDNY spokesman Jim Long.

Long said none of the firemen, whom he did not identify, were docked pay or suspended because of the incident. Long also said the matter was reviewed by an FDNY official who made a report to the borough commander, but said that the report would not be available to the public.

So, no major penalty for anyone involved.

Yesterday, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced that he would be open to reinstating the commuter tax.

The timing struck some people as unusual, since it gives Republicans an issue use against Democrats who are running for competitive State Senate seats, with only weeks to go before the election. (A poll earlier this week showed Democratic advantage in a number of those races.)

The tax, which was repealed in 1999, is opposed by suburban and upstate Republican lawmakers whose constituents don't want to have to pay to work in the city.

On his radio show this morning, host John Gambling asked Michael Bloomberg, “Do you find it unusual that maybe it came up now, and not after November 4th?”

“Um, you’ll have to ask the Speaker,” Bloomberg said.  read more »

After Sheldon Silver dropped the news that he's open to reinstituting the commuter tax, Michael Bloomberg told reporters in City Hall that he himself is also in favor of bringing it back. Bloomberg stopped short of demanding Republican state lawmakers take action.

“I’ve always thought it was a very bad mistake to give up the commuter tax back when it was done,” the mayor said. “I’ve been screaming about the commuter tax for all the time I’ve been here.”

New York City's commuter tax was lifted in 1999.

Bloomberg added, “The fact that the speaker is in favor of it is encouraging, but there’s 145-odd members in the Assembly, and we’re going to need a majority of them, as well, if we are to reinstitute it.”

That, essentially, was the lesson of the failure of congestion pricing.

Bill Murphy at Newsday points out something I missed in today's New York Post follow-up on the firemen who were helping Sheldon Silver during Tuesday's primary.

The Post quotes a union source saying the firemen happened to be passing by the campaign office and lent a hand, and that nothing was coordinated.

But among the people who happened to be helping out that day, the Post notes, was James Salvin, the Uniformed Firefighters Association's "vice president and legislative chairman."

"Put another way, he is the union’s liaison with politicians, and their in-house lobbyist in Albany," writes Murphy.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a powerful voice in the redevelopment of downtown, wants the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to stay in business, according to his spokesman.

That puts him at odds with Mayor Bloomberg, who today called in an op-ed for Governor Paterson to disband the agency, which has divvied up much of the federal money that went to Lower Manhattan following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Dan Weiller, a spokesman for Mr. Silver, who has previously expressed support for LMDC chairman Avi Schick, had this to say this afternoon:

"Speaker Silver said that he welcomes the sense of urgency that the mayor has expressed regarding progress at ground zero.  read more »

Yes the primary is over, but...indulge me.

Here's a piece of campaign literature featuring a picture of Barack Obama quoting him thanking Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs of Brooklyn for her “leadership.”

On the back, there’s Jacobs' name (and Sheldon Silver’s campaign slogan!). But Jacobs' picture is nowhere on the piece. That may have something to do with the racial make up of the district, which is predominantly African-American. Jacobs is not.

Winners in some key races, according to NY1, are Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Representative Ed Towns, and Democratic State Senate challenger Dan Squadron.

UPDATE: Add to the winner's list Democratic State Senator Kevin Parker, Democratic State Senate challenger Pedro Espada, Democratic Assembly challenger Grace Meng, Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat, and Manhattan Surrogate Court candidate Nora Anderson.

Local results are here, upstate results are here and congressional races here.

And person whose names wasn't on the ballot but may feel like winner is Michael Bloomberg, who endorsed two of tonight's winners: Squadron and Espaillat.

Other winners and losers tonight? 

I just got back from Greenwich and Chambers Street in Manhattan, where some Dan Squadron volunteers (at least one wearing an 1199 SEIU t-shirt) were handing out literature as a public school was letting out for the day.

One woman across the street, Roann Kolvenbach, handed back the Squadron flier she was given and said she didn’t know whether she was voting for him or for incumbent State Senator Marty Connor.

But she did tell me she’d be voting for Sheldon Silver, who represents the in the Assembly.

Kolvenbach, a mother of two elementary school children attending P.S. 234, said that Silver has been particularly responsive on the issue of school overcrowding.  read more »

Here’s video of Sheldon Silver’s scrum with reporters right after he voted this morning.

Silver swats away the New York Post cover at around the 1:35 mark.

Also, if you listen closely at the .06 minute mark, he offers a special greeting: “I’m glad Azi made it. It looked like you were wandering around the neighborhood." (True! I have been lately.)

Political consultant Hank Sheinkopf—who's seen many, many primaries—indulged me with a few predictions about the outcome of some of today's competitive races:

Assemblyman Sheldon Silver by 10 points.
State Senate challenger Dan Squadron by 10 points.
Representative Ed Towns by 8 to 10 points.
State Senator Kevin Parker by only 2 points.

Agree? Disagree?

After watching Sheldon Silver vote, I loitered near his campaign office for a few minutes and noticed fireman—in t-shirts with walkie-talkies slung around their chests—carrying boxes of food into the campaign office.

Across the street was a fire truck with the words “Tower Ladder 18” (double parked!). I overheard a guy directing firemen explaining to one of Silver's opponents, Luke Henry, that they were helping out because Silver has “always been a friend," and because the speaker’s position is “very powerful.”

When I approached this same man, he spotted my press pass, said, “I don’t know” and walked into a nearby Chinese food restaurant before returning to the front of the campaign office.

Asked for comment, Silver’s campaign spokesman Jonathan Rosen emailed to say, “Proud to have the support of NY’s Bravest.”

After Sheldon Silver voted this morning, presumably for himself, at P.S. 110 on the Lower East Side, he chatted with reporters on the corner of Delancey and Clinton Streets.

“Any questions?” he asked. He was dressed in a blue suit and wearing a blue Team Silver hat.

One reporter asked what he thought of today's “tabloid coverage.”

“Well, I’ll tell you the truth. Media is having trouble in this town and I hope I help them sell a few newspapers today,” he said. As Silver spoke, a New York Post photographer held up today's edition. Silver seems not to notice or care.

A reporter from NY1 asked why Silver hadn’t accepted his outlet's invitations to appear at debates.  read more »

In at least one of today's competitive local primaries, according to some of my favorite prognosticators, the writing is on the wall: Sheldon Silver will be re-elected. None of the people I’ve spoken with have predicted either of his challengers--Paul Newell or Luke Henry--could unseat him, even though Newell has won a fair amount of support and numerous newspaper endorsements.

Silver's job in this case, and perhaps one reason we've been treated to the sight of him campaigning sort-of actively, is to manage expectations.

Yesterday, Fred Dicker quoted an unnamed activist saying, “If Shelly wins with under 50 percent he’s a political dead man.  read more »

Dan Cantor, executive director of the labor-backed Working Families Party, makes the case in an email to supporters:

Sometimes the candidate who'll fight for working families is a challenger, sometimes it's an incumbent who's been doing it for years. Think about Teddy Kennedy if you want the best example of such a person at the national level.

Time after time, on the crucial fights of the day - Silver has been the most important leader standing up to right-wing corporate power. He beat back Republican attempts to end rent regulation, slash public schools, and reduce access to healthcare coverage. He actually believes that the government has a role to play in making sure everyone has a decent shot in life.

 read more »

Hillary Clinton just sent out this email in which she says of her "friend" Sheldon Silver that "New York is lucky to have Shelly Silver fighting for us in Albany."

Paul Newell, if nothing else, continues to attract the heavy artillery.

Here’s a piece of literature I picked up from one of the many Sheldon Silver volunteers on Grand Street yesterday. The slogan—“always there for us”—cuts against the grain of “change,” which many people are latching onto these days.

If nothing else, the experience message is one that Silver supporters like Jose Rivera would approve.

Paul Newell, dressed in a beige suit, his pockets stuffed with palm cards, was standing on the steps of St. Mary's Church on Grand Street Sunday afternoon, stopping any parishioner he could get in front of to tell them that he'd been endorsed by every daily newspaper in New York City.

Two blocks away, Newell's opponent, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, had a fleet of seven vans, which volunteers were driving all over the district to distribute literature that touted endorsements from two local papers: The Villager and Downtown Express. (Both are owned by Community Media, L.L.C.)

In the three blocks between Newell and Silver's campaign headquarters, I ran into three three Assembly members (Rory Lancman, Cathy Nolan and Audrey Pheffer) and four volunteers, all handing out literature for Silver.  read more »

Here's part of an invitation for an fund-raiser event tonight in support of Sheldon Silver, who is facing spirited primary challenges community organizer (hiss!) Paul Newell and attorney Luke Henry.

Newell outpaced Silver in fund-raising for this most recent filing period, but Silver's overall warchest is still much bigger.

Here’s a mailer going out to voters in Sheldon Silver’s district highlighting his bungled responses to two alleged sexual assaults committed by one of his top aides at the time, Michael Boxley. Boxley was indicted in the second case.

The mailer includes excerpts from news articles highlighting the 2001 and 2003 incidents, and a letter written by the first victim, Elizabeth Crothers, who is supporting Paul Newell, another candidate in the race.

Referring to the second incident, Crothers wrote, “This was a rape Sheldon Silver could have prevented, but--for the sake of his own political convenience--he did not.”

She goes on, “When I was powerless and alone, Sheldon Silver sat silent.  read more »

Here's some non-Minnesota news: Sheldon Silver has been out-paced in fund-raising by one of his Democratic primary challengers, Paul Newell, a community activist.

In the pre-primary filing report (which candidates are required to file 11 days before the primary), Newell raised $40,015. In that same time period, Silver raised $19,575.44. Attorney Luke Henry raised only $510.

But that’s just a snapshot of what’s going on in the race. Here’s the bigger picture: overall, Silver has on hand $2,941,159.64, Newell has $37,729.78 and Henry has $9,086.34.

Also worth noting: Newell is buying ads on FaceBook, and Google.

Here's the Assembly speaker on the floor of the convention last night, looking decidedly more animated than usual.

With The Times giving details today on the changes being considered to the Santiago Calatrava-designed PATH hub, we caught up with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver out at the Democratic National Convention in Denver to get his reaction to the news that the Port Authority may put columns in the signature main hall of the station, which was to be open.

Mr. Silver did not take a firm position either way, but signaled openness to scaling back the aesthetics of the planned iconic station.

"Obviously, the functional purpose of it is still important, and we ought to watch that we get what's going on there as quickly as possible, get it moving," he said.  read more »

David Paterson had only been at the podium for a few moments when the cheers faded and a woman yelled out, “We love you David!”

Paterson replied, “Once again, my past is catching up with me,” likely a reference to the extramarital affairs he's admitted to having, although moments later he said he thought his mother was in the audience.

Paterson emphasized the importance of recognizing Hillary Clinton’s accomplishments.

The governor recalled how his father, who ran for lieutenant governor in the 1970s, was treated.

“They told him he was an asset on that ticket," Paterson said. "When they got to the general election, they never even mentioned his name in the paid television campaign ads.  read more »

Here’s Paul Newell, the Democratic challenger who Assembly Speaker Sheldon conveniently can’t remember.

Newell is in Denver (he's an Obama delegate) and has a message about Silver's apparent amnesia.

Something else Silver might be interested in: Newell is being followed by a guy with a camera, Justin Sullivan, who told me he's making an independent documentary about the race.

DENVER—I chatted with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on the floor of the convention center just after David Paterson's speech, which he said he liked.

When I asked whether Paterson should have mentioned Hillary Clinton, Silver said, “Hillary will have, you know, her spotlight tonight.”

Here's Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver earlier this afternoon during David Paterson's convention speech, during which the governor praised Barack Obama as the best candidate for disabled Americans and offered sharp criticism of John McCain.

“Wages are declining while inflation is at a 17-year high,” Paterson said, adding that the “promise of America has also diminished for people with disabilities.”

“Which of the candidates will make the change that will restore the promise of America? Well, let see. Is it John McCain?” he asked. After the crowd shouted, “No!,” Paterson said, “No? I’m shocked.” He went on, “In 2007, John McCain voted with the administration 95 percent of the time.  read more »

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is having a closed-door reception for New York State Assembly members at (where else?) the East Side Kosher Deli in Denver.

“Even the name sounds like we never left home,” said one New Yorker.

Sheldon Silver will get another chance to remember Paul Newell when the challenger arrives in Denver.

Newell, a community organizer, is also an elected Obama delegate, but has been missing from the convention events so far. I called to inquire and he replied via text message (so fancy!), saying he’ll be here tomorrow.

Silver is also facing challenger Luke Henry, an attorney, in the Democratic primary next month.

DENVER—Last night, Bronx Democratic County Chairman Jose Rivera ran into Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver at the Sheraton Hotel, and, for the benefit of my camera, endorsed Silver for re-election.

When I asked why he's supporting Silver instead of one of the speaker's two challengers, Rivera said, “Because I’ve known him for over 25 years and he has not changed.”

Change is pretty much the theme out here in Denver, and of Barack Obama's campaign, of course, and even the driving force behind a number of challengers seeking office in Albany this year. When I pointed this out, Rivera threw his arm around Silver and said, “We’re doing great in the State of New York.”

Later, Rivera suggested the slogan for Silver's re-election campaign be "Hi-Ho Silver, All the Way!"

Hillary Clinton is still sending mixed messages.

Speaking at a press conference this morning following a breakfast with the New York delegation at the Sheraton hotel in Denver, during which called on her supporters to support Barack Obama, she said she would release her delegates to vote for Obama on Wednesday and would vote for Obama herself. But Clinton also argued that her delegates should have the chance to vote for her during Wednesday’s convention roll call.

Clinton spoke for about 15 minutes about the steady process of party unity and all the work she had done to convince her supporters to vote for Obama during the convention and in the election.  read more »

DENVER—At a reception he hosted last night at the Sheraton downtown, I asked Asse