In the comments people have been asking for a post on the arrest of Sheldon Silver, the majority leader of the New York State Assembly. I’m not an expert on the politics of our legislative body–only reporters who have covered that corrupt sinkhole for decades really know the ins and outs. But here are the basics.
Even though New York is a very blue state, due to a combination of gerrymandering and incumbency, we still have a Senate that is effectively run by Republicans. They’re New York Republicans, which would pass for a moderate Democrat in most places, but they still have an (R) after their name. For the past few years, the Senate has been technically majority Democrat, but a few Democrats defected. (Details here.) This session, it’s actual Republicans, due to the 2014 election disaster.
Since the Assembly has been majority Democrat for decades, this sets up the need for compromise to get anything done. Traditionally, this compromise has been hammered out by “Three Men in a Room”, which sounds like a mediocre sitcom, but is really the Governor, Assembly Majority Leader (Shelly) and the Senate Majority Leader. Since the legislature also has earmarks (called “Member Items”), suffice it to say that this compromise involves a great deal of palm greasing and back scratching. The Times has a good piece on this today.
So we have a situation ripe for bribery, and I’m sure Shelly received what would appear to the layman to be bribes. However, we need to look at the case of Shelly’s former counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, for an example of why Shelly thought he could get away with his bribery. Bruno took in millions of dollars in his “consulting” business while he was Leader. He was indicted, tried and convicted for bribery. He appealed that conviction to the Supreme Court and it was overturned based on the vagueness of the law. Then, he was indicted again, and a jury found him not guilty. Then New York State was forced to pay his $2.5 million legal bill.
Shelly is smarter than Bruno, so I’m sure that the bribes he received are even less clear-cut. So when Shelly tells us that he’ll beat this rap, this isn’t the usual bullshit you hear from a politician caught being bribed. He’s also saying that he’s not resigning, and his second in charge, weasel Joe Morelle from Rochester, is standing by him. I can only imagine the bags of cash that are swirling around the Assembly today as different factions push their favorite made man to be Shelly’s successor, but I wouldn’t bet against him.
schrodinger's cat
Thanks for the brief and digestible intro to this sordid saga.
c u n d gulag
Outside of a year in Philadelphia, and 9 years in NC, I’ve lived in NY City and Upstate for the rest of my (almost) 57 years.
And, you can try to tell me that Chicago and IL are as or more corrupt, or any other city and/or state – but I’ll take NY’s Byzantine corruption, call you, and raise the ante!
DougJ
Someone asked me yesterday why Silver was arrested. I said “for taking bribes”. Then I realized that it’s legal for legislators to take bribes in New York State.
OzarkHillbilly
See? I told you those dogdamned lieberals were all corrupt.
OzarkHillbilly
@DougJ: People that connected don’t get arrested for breaking the law, they get arrested for pi$$ing off the wrong people.
Felonius Monk
Ain’t that the truth. Bruno is dumber than a box of rocks. It still amazes me that he got away with it.
If the Feds have an ironclad case on Shelly and force him to resign, the upheaval will be quite interesting to watch.
c u n d gulag
@OzarkHillbilly:
Like Bernie Madoff!
If he’d stolen from the poor instead of the rich, he’d still be living his champagne wishes and caviar dreams…
eric nny
NY pols have raised corruption to an art form. Many, many years of practice and fine-tuning.
danielx
I’m still going to have to think about this to discern whether this meets Anthony Kennedy’s definition of corruption, seeing how said definition is about a quarter inch wide.
Buddy H
What really disgusted me about Bruno was his daughter’s NO-SHOW job ($70,000+ perdiem) at SUNY. The other employees actually used her office as a place for storage, because she was never there. She was hired as an assistant director, but didn’t have the necessary college degrees.
I’ll say it again. They actually used her office as a storage room.
And then the taxpayer pays his legal bills.
Doc Sportello
Yes, these were fundamentally bribes, but they appeared as payments to various law firms for services rendered. And Silver was compensated by the law firms, even though it looks like he did no work.
But “he did not report the income on his annual financial disclosure forms submitted to the state.” And I suspect this will be his undoing.
As a resident of his district, would be thoroughly delighted to see him go. Katz’s pastrami and celery sodas for everyone!
raven
They are bandits in Georgia as well. The current governor is a scum sucking weasel.
WereBear
The angle on this I find most interesting is this:
As I understand it, this is a vital need in any political system, and thus the laxity in the laws actually underscores the importance of allowing it by any means possible. (Not that I’m pro-corruption by any means. But in the past, actually doing something was important enough that voters noticed.)
It is also one which the Republicans have raised to a fine art of NOT-doing in a manner which is unprecedented in our history. The ultimate conservatism is death, is it not?
NotMax
“Albany” might as well be Algonquin for “den of corruption.”
NotMax
@raven
Actually rather surprised that nearly a month of the new Congress has passed and ultra-extremist nutball Hice hasn’t yet made the news (although perhaps he has locally in GA).
shelley
I nearly fell over when I first saw the title of this thread….Me? What are they writing about me?
‘Shelley’ isn’t the most common name.
Alex S.
Preet Bharara, good guy or bad guy?
Pogonip
What happened to Botsplainer and his 27 1/2 (when wet) pound dog? Did they get to move in?
catclub
@WereBear:
My understanding is that the Teamsters Pension fund did much better in the 2008-9 collapse than most.
Felonius Monk
@Alex S.:
I think he’s the same prosecutor that’s been going after Christie in NJ — so maybe a good guy.
tybee
@raven:
that is an insult to scum sucking weasels.
schrodinger's cat
Thread needs kitteh.Caturday Cat enjoys snow day
jonas
The problem is that NY has what amounts to a part-time legislature and allows its members to take part time work when the assembly isn’t in session. 99% of the time, this outside work consists of “consulting” services related directly or indirectly to government contracting, regulation, etc. They’re supposed to publicly disclose who they work for and how much they get paid, however, and everyone knows the system is rife with fraud. Silver got caught failing to report several million dollars in fees he got paid for some “part time work” at a lobbying/law firm. Whether Bharara can make these charges stick is another matter…
Amir Khalid
@jonas:
Bharara must fancy his chances of getting a conviction, or he wouldn’t have filed the charges.
Redshift
@DougJ: I get a daily list of news clips about Virginia politics, and today’s included an op-ed from a novelist in SW (wingnuttiest) VA, insisting that Bob McDonnell had been railroaded because he “hadn’t broken any state laws.”
Cervantes
@Alex S.:
Good guy.
A little bit of a stickler, sometimes too much for his own or anyone’s good — but good guy.
Ken
not just majority democrat, but supermajority, so the Repubs are never ever getting control of that chamber. It’s kind of like Illinois or MA. Yeah we get R governors, but the assembly is hard core blue.
so what CM said: you need to walk across the aisle.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
He does fancy his chances, it’s true — but as of yesterday charges had not yet been filed. Bharara issued not an indictment — formal charges — but a criminal complaint, which suggests he intends to file certain charges. The complaint was handed to a judge; an arrest warrant was issued; Silver made bail, handed over his passport, and went home.
Oh, and his bank accounts were frozen.
Amir Khalid
@Cervantes:
I stand corrected.
raven
@Redshift: Thank you Mornin Joe.
buddy h
I don’t like Silver, and I hate the corruption, but then I worry will this be an opportunity for republicans in NY to take power away from the “crooked democrats” and then turn our state into Scott Walker’s Wisconsin.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Just keeping the details accurate.
One other detail not mentioned in the post above is that Bharara involved himself because he was offended when Cuomo abruptly ended an investigation of Silver et al. that he himself, as Governor, had commissioned. Bharara, waiting, saw a chance and took it. Obviously you’re right that he does fancy his chances — plus he’s hinting that, well, others are going to face scrutiny as well.
Folks much worldlier than I am are complaining in a boys-will-be-boys sort of way, but the increased scrutiny is not coming too soon for me. If these New York machine politicians had wanted to corrupt things, they should have done it fair and square on Wall Street and left the public sphere to public-minded people, many of whom exist and none of whom deserve to have aspersions cast upon them simply by association.
Ron Thompson
You know, your credibility just goes down the drain when you repeatedly refer to Silver as the Majority Leader.
He’s the Speaker. He’s been the Speaker for 20 years.
Chris
Curious: what exactly does this mean? My impression of Northeastern Republicans is that they’ve got more room to maneuver on social issues than the heartlanders, but that they’re just like the rest of their party when it comes to economics (it’s where Wall Street is based, after all) unless overridden by Democratic legislatures (the original Obamacare, Romneycare, owing at least as much to Massachusetts Democrats as to Mittens from what I’ve read on this website).
randy khan
@buddy h: The Assembly is so heavily tilted towards the Dems that the likelihood of the Republicans taking control is about the same as me floating to the Moon. So, even if a Republican somehow managed to get elected Governor again (which I’m sure will happen eventually), there’s not much chance of a Wisconsin-style debacle.
Debbie
I can’t believe it took so long to arrest him.
Cervantes
@Debbie:
Notice also that it took the Feds to do it.
Cervantes
@Chris:
I’d say you’re about right, except that “social issues” and “economics” are not always (if they are ever) entirely separable. Addressing some of the former may require dealing with the latter, for example.
buddy h
The latest from the New Yawker:
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/sheldon-silver-arrest-drain-albany-swamp
After Shelly Silver, It’s Time to Drain the Albany Swamp
BY JOHN CASSIDY
Cervantes
@Ron Thompson:
Tried a couple of times to get an erroneous (and, worse, unfair) statement corrected the other day. Failed. It’s still there.
A pattern? I wouldn’t know. Do these things matter? Not to everyone.
Cervantes
@buddy h:
Thanks. I think John Cassidy is on the right track there.
Unrelated point about that article: I don’t think it’s fair of Cassidy to repeat in passing the child-sex allegation against Prince Andrew — that is, without also repeating in passing a similar and related allegation against Alan Dershowitz.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Cervantes: Atrios points us to a report that a whispering campaign says Cuomo may be a “big fish” caught in the net.
Hmm…
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Holocene Human
@Buddy H: Chris Dodd while a sitting US Senator took a bribe from Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide, which entity he was responsible for passing laws to regulate, and then when it all came out shrugged and said “What, me worry?” and announced he wouldn’t run again.
THAT FUCKER SHOULD HAVE GONE TO PRISON.
Another Holocene Human
@Cervantes: True, the allegations are equally credible, except that one accuser has that photo with Andrew and not with The Dersh.
It does make you wonder, though. Dershowitz has gone through this long, public decline and he also full-throatedly defended torture. Makes you wonder.
Dershowitz also used to rail against the power of the state and the police state. This is one of those areas where libertarians may be useful since, you know, Clarence Thomas’ theories on what it is reasonable for a cop to do at a traffic stop act to the detriment of us all. But he was so obsessed with this notion he was calling anyone and everyone “statists”. I sometimes find that libertarians are obsessed with state power because they want personal, very personal kind of power and fear the state will, you know, interfere with that, because, like, human rights and stuff.
I’m not convinced by his vigorous denials. He’s a fucking defense lawyer.
beltane
@Cervantes: That whole Jeffrey Epstein/Prince Andrew pedophile scandal reminds me that our “betters” are not only more vile then we ever thought, but are also more vile than we could ever have imagined.
Buddy H
@Another Holocene Human: Agreed.
Buddy H
@Cervantes: I wondered about that myself. Maybe they attend the same cocktail parties, and it would be too awkward?
Cervantes
@Another Holocene Human:
{Equally credible except for the photo} sounds about right to me. Not saying I believe the accuser, nor that I don’t believe her. Have not tried to follow the facts.
It’s just that I have difficulties with many things Dershowitz has said and done over the years. He’s not a nice person and now he’s in a spot of trouble. Am I enjoying his discomfort a little too much? Well, it’s somewhat embarrassing to admit it’s quite within the realm of possibility.
BBA
There have been a few issues where nominal Democrats like Silver and Cuomo have been to the right of nominal Republicans like Bloomberg. Fracking was the big one – let’s give some hearty sarcastic applause to Cuomo for banning it after it became thoroughly unprofitable – but the one that sticks in my mind is congestion pricing. Bloomberg proposed charging a toll to people who drove into Manhattan during rush hour, which would both give additional funding to the MTA and give commuters an incentive to take transit into the city instead of driving, reducing traffic. Silver singlehandedly killed the bill despite representing a dense Manhattan district where few of his “constituents” even own cars. Thanks for all the congestion and pollution, Shelly!
Fun fact: a convicted felon is automatically disqualified from his seat in the state legislature, but this is a matter of statute, not the state constitution. I don’t know if Silver is brazen enough to change the law to let himself serve from prison, but I wouldn’t put it past him.
Cervantes
@BBA:
Just a note: he’s barely even a nominal Republican, having quit the Democratic Party only because it would never have allowed him the mayoral nomination.
Howard Beale IV
@Another Holocene Human: Dodd’s head should be on a pike.
Howard Beale IV
@Another Holocene Human: Dersh was whining and wanted to file charges against the attorneys (which he did), then the attorneys turned around and filed charged against Dersh.
Weird shit.
Naked Capitalism’s Yves Smith commented that at one point someone she knew (or herself) saw Dersh in a towel, so there may be some truth to this.
Randy P
From the Times article:
Wait, so Cuomo set up this anticorruption panel? And then closed it down? Why? Because they found corruption and that wasn’t what they were supposed to do?
Cervantes
@Howard Beale IV:
Non sequitur.
1. That one point was when she was in school — college? graduate school? thirty years ago? — so the person Dershowitz was toweling up with was not a child, and Dershowitz was younger than he is today.
2. I’ve seen people in towels, too, and as far as I know none of them were pedophiles.