Despite a lukewarm response when Cuomo unveiled the plan last week, Silver last week discreetly submitted the proposal to the Assembly's government operations committee.
His aides sought to beef up support yesterday by asking various assemblymen to sign on as co-sponsors.
The move comes in advance of a planned Tuesday trip to the Capitol by former Mayor Ed Koch, who has led a reform effort and will call on lawmakers to approve an independent redistricting commission.
Silver was heavily criticized during the campaign for not signing onto Koch's pledge to support an independent group to redraw political districts.
"[Silver] realizes there are certain political realities and he may be thinking if we get the (GOP-controlled) Senate to do it, then we'll do it together," said an Assembly member who did not wish to be identified. "He may be trying to box them in."
Regardless of whether Shelly's motive is to earn goodwill from Cuomo or fend off a progressive primary challenge next year, this is a good thing. Credit where credit is due.
We all remember TAPer Paul Newell's courageous primary run against Sheldon SIlver in 2008. Filmmaker Justin Sullivan made an excellent documentary about it at the time and it is being shown at the Tank this week. It is a really excellent film and I highly encourage you all to see it. You can see the trailer below:
And here's the info:
Two years ago Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver faced his first primary challenger in 22-years. The feature documentary Excuse Me, Mr. Speaker... - now on DVD - tells the story of first-time candidate Paul Newell's unlikely campaign to unseat the Speaker and bring reform to Albany. Please visit excusememrspeaker.com to view the trailer.
Excuse Me, Mr. Speaker... will screen at 8:30pm on Tuesday, December 14 and at 7pm and 8:30pm on Wednesday, December 15 at The Tank, 354 W. 45th street, between 8th and 9th Avenues. A Q&A with filmmaker Justin Sullivan and candidate Paul Newell will take place after each 8:30pm screening. Press tickets are available.
The movie follows Newell's campaign from his staff of a single 15-year-old intern to it's dramatic sweep of New York newspaper endorsements. Revealing and humorous, Excuse Me, Mr, Speaker... gives a intimate view of a New York City campaign from it's chaotic Chinatown headquarters to a mysterious "push poll" to the occasional bizarre voter interaction.
As Speaker, the ever cryptic Silver's political powers are unprecedented; he tables bills single-handedly and uses "member item" monies as both carrots and sticks. "What happens in the Assembly is a charade," The Daily News wrote of Silver's role in Albany when endorsing Newell. "Individual lawmakers are all but irrelevant. They have surrendered their authority to Silver."
But in the heady days of 2008, any and all reform seemed possible, and Newell rode this wave in his campaign against Speaker Silver. And even with the appearance of an oddly motivated second challenger, Newell, with his motley crew of volunteers, manages to both out fundraise the Speaker in the final filing and win the endorsements of The Daily News, The New York Post and The New York Times - the first such feat by a local non-incumbent in modern memory.
With brisk pacing, cinema-verite style and a light touch, the 75-minute Excuse Me, Mr. Speaker... captures the campaign in a close-up way that captivates the audience as well as illuminates the peculiar dysfunction of Albany's "Three men in a room."
It's hard to imagine ethics laws passing that would directly hurt the bank accounts of our legislative leaders. Thus, I have a hunch that Albany will never pass strong conflict-of-interest rules for legislators as long as Shelly Silver and Dean Skelos continue to profit off companies that do business with the state:
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver isn't the only Albany leader with a stock-portfolio stake in companies that do business with the state.
Republican Senate boss Dean Skelos and his wife, Gail, own shares in 14 companies with a combined 111 state contracts worth more than $2 billion.
(snip)
Earlier this month, The News reported that Silver (D-Manhattan) owns stock in 30 companies with business before the state. He has refused to say how much the stock is worth.
(snip)
Based on the ranges provided, the Skelos' total stock and mutual fund portfolio is between $432,000 and $992,000.
The couple's holdings in companies doing business with the state is between $227,000 and $615,000.
Skelos and his wife also each own stock in General Electric, which has $41.7 million in state contracts.
The senator's GE holding is worth between $5,000 and $19,999. His wife's holding is under $5,000.
Gail Skelos also has mutual fund investments of between $100,000 and $249,999 with Jennison Blend Fund and Jennison Utility Fund.
Jennison has a $3.12 million consulting contract with the state Deferred Compensation Board, records show.
How these "leaders" even sleep at night is beyond my comprehension.
My dad got an email yesterday that was apparently sent to a bunch of Columbia University alumni:
Thanks for taking the time to read this message. A number of Columbia Alum are getting together to try to address what is going on in Albany these days. The Columbia Community can really stand together and do something huge for the state.
I'm planning to run against sheldon Silver in 2012, and we are recruiting a slate of other candidates, ready to decentralize power to the communities. We are also recruiting more candidates to form a caucus to reform the procedure of the assembly, so that the 151 members of the Assembly do not have their voting power concentrated into a single man. Decentralization will address the fact that the majority of bills are debated for less than a minute on the floor of our Assembly -- a travesty to our supposedly democratic legislature. Sheldon Silver is the figurehead, but the system is the problem.
One particularly interesting proposal we have is to create athenian style community lending authorities, which leverages state funds through federal reserve lending facilities, in order to allow monetary policy to work from the bottom up as well as the top down, more effectively. We will also be seeking fiscally efficient ways to implement green governance.
Our website is www.realdealdemocracy.com and we will be having parties throughout the year all over the city. Please take a look and I hope to hear your thoughts and will try to follow up with you soon.
It only takes 6000 votes to change the entire legislature. This isn't just any election, and as an Alumni I hope you will help, whether it is in a financial capacity or with your time, ideas, and words.
Ed Chen
I don't know too much about Chen, but he has one great asset: he's not Sheldon Silver. I know he raised money for Paul Newell in 08, so his heart should be in the right place. Furthermore, that link, realdemocracy.com seems to be an organization that is opposing all the right people- Pedro, Shelly, and Carl Kruger:
There are a lot of political reform groups out there right now, yet politicians like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Finance Chair Carl Kruger are running unopposed in a year that saw our state legislature fail us repeatedly, costing New York billions of dollars less through their ineptitude then their personal interest.
Silver and Kruger thrive in the den of Albany because no one will take them on, and if someone does, they have no support. Your contribution will be used to help us defeat Sheldon Silver and his ilk in the State Assembly, where bills are debated for less than 1 minute -- shorter than most third world countries. These men control the legislative bodies that failed to approve congestion pricing and lost the city $380 Million in Federal transportation funding and violated the will of the City Council and the mayor without even letting the bill go to a vote. Albany has robbed us of representation for years. That can all end now.
This cycle, New York reformers are rightly focused on the State Senate- first to remove the worst of the worst, already getting rid of the Slasher and with our sights on Pedro and Ruben Diaz Sr. to prevent the setting of a bad precedent with the new Democratic majority in that chamber; and secondly, to expand the Democratic majority in November so the bad actors like Pedro and Kruger can't have undue influence on the caucus. But in 2012, assuming we achieve our objectives in the Senate, we will set our sights on the Assembly leadership again.
For those of you who remember the oft-contentious AD-64 primary last year, filmmaker Justin Sullivan has made a documentary with an insider's view of the Newell campaign.
I've seen the movie and I can tell you it is supremely entertaining, has quite a few hilarious moments, and I highly recommend it. They are having a screening at the Tank tomorrow. From the facebook invite:
Excuse Me, Mr. Speaker
Wednesday, July 8th, 8:00 PM.
The Tank at the 45th Street Theatre (Note: The website says 7:30pm, but the showing has been moved to 8:00pm)
354 W. 45th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues.
Suggested Donation: $8
Seating is limited, so I recommend you arrive early.
It really is a great flick and I recommend everybody go see it.
It looks like the standoff between Gov. David A. Paterson and the state's ethics oversight commission - known as the Commission on Public Integrity - will continue at least through the summer.
(snip)
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver unveiled a complex proposal at the meeting that appeared to doom any chance of swift action. His plan would create three commissions charged with ethics and lobbying oversight of the executive branch and the Legislature. The governor and Senate Democrats have proposed creating a single, independent ethics and lobbying commission with jurisdiction over both branches of government.
At the heart of the differing approaches is Mr. Silver's unwillingness to cede the Legislature's control of its own ethics oversight. He proposed recreating the current, much-maligned Legislative Ethics Commission along the lines of the Office of Congressional Ethics in the House of Representatives.
He also proposed breaking up the integrity commission into separate commissions overseeing lobbying and ethics, reviving a structure that existed before 2007.
An independent board with oversight on both lobbying and ethics is the best way to police Albany, but Shelly just can't stomach the thought of anyone with power in Albany who doesn't answer to him. No surprises here. I hope Paterson and Smith can override his objections, but I'm not optimistic.
Tonight there were more than a few surprises at the ballot box. The Senate's longest-serving incumbent, Martin Connor was beaten by progressive newcomer, Dan Squadron. Alice Kyrzan took atvantage of the Davis-Powers mudfight to pull a Kerry in Iowa. Incubents Ed Towns and Sheldon Silver won their re-election bids by roughly 2-1. And happily, Bronx Senator Efrain Gonzalez, who is facing federal corruption charges, was defeated by fomer Councilman Pedro Espada Jr.
As I have been covering the AD-64 race with the most interest, here are a few observations. First off, Shelly does have a Republican opponent, and let me say that I wholehartedly endorse him against his Republican opponent. While we Democrats have the privilege of being picky in our primaries, even the worst Democrats are better than even the best Republicans any day. Vote Sheldon Silver in November.
Secondly, I am hoping Shelly can learn from this primary fight. Shelly had a roughly 30-1 cash advantage against his opponents, and more importantly, he had the backing of the WFP and every union that decided to endorse in that race. He also had almost every member of the Assembly and their staffs pounding the payment, taxpayer-funded constituent mailers, and $7 million worth of pork to slather his district with. Newell had 40 volunteers, zero endorsements by any elected officials, and an office rented in a dance studio. Shelly also had the downtown Democratic clubs and there were people handing out pro-Shelly literature on virtually every corner of that district today. And still 1/3 of the Democrats in his district cast votes against him. Shelly did about 10 points better than Martin Connor did in 2006 (who was facing a much better financed opponent), and we know what happened to Connor tonight.
To his credit, after Shelly's leadership was challenged from within his caucus in 2002, he got the message and changed his behavior afterwards. Let's hope he draws the same lessons from today. If he actually starts passing rules reform in his house and works with out soon-to-be Democratic Senate to pass campaign finance reform and redistricting reform, it will be because of this courageous primary challenge by Paul Newell. And let me say also, that if Shelly does these things, I will stop railing against him on a daily basis on this blog. But he has to do those things first.
On another note, the real winner tonight was the WFP. I don't think they lost a single race where they endorsed. Very impressive.
And finally, I am looking forward to having a real reformer going to Albany in January by the name of Dan Squadron. For a challenger to beat the former minority leader by almost 10 points is almost hard to describe in its impressiveness. With a victory like this, Albany will have to take notice of Squadron's 11-point plan for reform, which includes Clean Money Clean Elections, redistricting reform, and rules reform. I'm looking forward to Squadron taking this plan forward with the same force as did in his enormously successful campaign.
So celebrate tonight everyone, because we live in a democracy where we can have these discussions in public without fear of government retribiution. Even if your candidate lost, you can't argue with the voters having their say.
Looking real good for Squadron.
UPDATE: Marty Connor is running out of reporting precincts, folks. He'd better have a few thousand votes stashed somewhere.
This blog was started by Peter Muennig, an Assistant Professor in Health Policy and Management at Columbia University.
Dan Jacoby muses about what would happen if Silver actually lost:
Suppose, just for the fun of it, that lightning strikes, the earth shakes, and Silver loses. The immediate result would be a mad scramble for leadership in the Assembly, and the only guarantee is that nobody knows who would win. Well, almost the only guarantee -- for whoever wins will have to promise to push forward exactly those reforms that Silver's supporters are talking about.
The difference is that Silver isn't really the most progressive Speaker we could have, nor would he necessarily get things done. If Silver were more interested in getting things done than blaming others, rebuilding lower Manhattan (his district!) would have progressed much faster. Yes, he'll go along with the caucus (many call it "leading from behind"), but he's not out in front on campaign finance reform, he has stymied rules reform, and he severely watered down what little ethics reform that passed. And those last two don't require Senate help -- we're talking about the rules of his own House.
So don't support Sheldon Silver because we need his progressive leadership -- he hasn't shown any.
The word out of Silver's camp is that they're expecting around 65% of the vote. I bet Silver gets less than 60%. My final prediction is Silver 58%, Newell 35%, Henry 7%.
And even if Silver wins tomorrow, I am optimistic that he might implement some needed reforms in the next cycle. Why do I speak such heresay? Because Silver's past has shown a similar reaction to a similar circumstance. When Silver's leadership was challenged from within the Assembly caucus by Michael Bragman, the gripe against him was that he was too indifferent to the members of his caucus. Silver learned from that episode and became very attentive to the needs of his caucus since- so much so that he even shields them from having to actually vote on controversial issues. So if Shelly wins by a less-than-expected margin this time, and with a Democratic Senate, he might actually implement some reforms if only to ensure he never has to go through what he is going through now again.
But the election hasn't happened yet- it's tomorrow, so you still have time to volunteer for Paul Newell by calling his campaign at 646 415 8273.
The time has come for the voters of lower Manhattan to turn Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver out of office.
After 32 years in his seat, including 14 years as the Assembly's maximum leader, Silver embodies the insider's game that has captured the state Legislature, to the detriment of 19 million New Yorkers.
Silver's constituents would serve the cause of open, responsive government - and rock Albany to its foundations - by pulling the lever in Tuesday's Democratic primary for challenger Paul Newell.
Across America in this election year, people are demanding change. Let's have it in Albany, too.
Such a vote could mark the start of a revolution. For dumping Silver would send the unmistakable message that the people of this state want a responsible, deliberative Legislature rather than a boss-run fiefdom.
(snip)
What happens in the Assembly is a charade. Individual lawmakers are all but irrelevant. They have surrendered their authority to Silver, who rewards loyalists with added pay and pork-barrel grants for their districts. (While dispensing a gargantuan $2 million a year to his own pet causes.)
The rank-and-file do what they are told - to the point that until recently, they were counted as automatically voting yes even though they were not present in the chamber. There are no meaningful hearings, and every bill that comes to the floor passes, as Silver dictates.
It gets better:
Nor is it any wonder that Silver peremptorily buried Mayor Bloomberg's congestion-pricing plan, along with $350 million in federal mass transit aid - without putting the highly debated proposal to a vote.
His high-handedness was all the more outrageous, representing, as he does, a district overrun by traffic from the three lower East River bridges and the Battery and Holland tunnels.
Then, too, Silver takes full advantage of New York's lax ethics laws to conceal how much money he makes serving as "of counsel" to a major firm of trial lawyers - a group that would be loath to have the Legislature impose any manner of tort or malpractice reform.
(snip)
When they go to the polls Tuesday, Democratic voters of the 64th Assembly District - perhaps 15,000 strong - have the opportunity to bring desperately needed change to all New York. And they have a solid choice in Newell, who displays impressive passion about the quality of life in neighborhoods across lower Manhattan.
Elect Newell. Dump Silver.
Amen. Cheers to the Daily News' editorial board for speaking truth to power.
This Tuesday, unless your incumbent legislator is personally known to you to be a genuine reformer (2 names come to mind: Senator Bill Perkens and Assemblyman Jim Brennan), vote for the challenger. Here are some endorsements in selective races.
SD-25:
This primary pits newcomer Dan Squadron against longtime incumbent and former Senate Minority Leader Martin Connor. Connor was sacked by his conference in 2002 because of his perceived failure to challenge the Republicans agressively enough either in the caucus or at the ballot box.
28-year-old Squadron is promising to make significant reforms to the Albany game. He is has also refused to accept PAC, corporate, and lobbyist money for his campaign.
It's too bad Shelly has 2 challengers who will likely split the opposition vote. Of those 2 challengers, Paul Newell is the stronger one. In the last filing he raised $40,015 to Henry's $510. He has deep roots in the district and is waging an energetic campaign. Newell has been endorsed by the New York Times, the Daily News, the Downtown Express, the Villager, and has the necessary grassroots operation to even have a chance of pulling off the upset of Silver. It's time to send a message to Albany that the ridiculousness ends now, with a strong message to the upper eschelons of power. Justin Sullivan, a filmmaker, is making a documentary about this race- let's give that movie a happy ending.
This congressional primary pits longtime Democratic Congressman Edolphus Towns against former "Real World" star and activist, Kevin Parker. Towns had some serious "wtf" votes considering he represents one of the most Democratic districts in the country, including his vote for the Bankruptcy Bill and for CAFTA. On the Bankruptcy Bill alone, Towns deserves to lose his job. Powell has a compelling life story and appears he will be a good representative for Brooklyn's 10th District.
Elsewhere: As mentioned earlier, our legislature is the worst in the country. Unless you can personally vouch for your incumbent legislator (there are maybe 5 or 10 incumbents that deserve to be re-elected), vote for the challenger. It's time for some long-overdue accountbility in Albany.
A common fear that has been present in the anti-Sheldon Silver movement is that the existence of 2 challengers will split that anti-Shelly vote and ensure that Shelly gets re-elected.
So, if you want to end the status quo in Albany and send Sheldon Silver packing, please just vote for Paul Newell.
There has been some debate here by supporters of Shelly's other opponent, Luke Henry, that Henry is the stronger opponent.
I have met Luke and I like him a lot. He is a genuine guy and he is a real progressive.
But he has not run as good a campaign as Newell.
For case and point, look at the latest campaign filing. Newell actually outraised Silver during the last reporting period. And that's without taking any money from lobbyists, corporations, or PAC's. And that's over $40,000 from 165 different contributors, 139 of whom gave less than $100.
That what we call grassroots support. That's what we call a base.
In the same time period, Henry has raised $510. In fairness, Henry just welcomed his first child into the world in August, and it's compeletely understandable if he has different priorities right now. But the priority of the anti-Shelly reform movement is to defeat Shelly. And Newell is the candidate most likely to achieve that end.
Luke Henry and his supporters are good progressives who are trying to bring change to Albany to improve the whole state. That is why I hope they realize that the best way to achieve these goals is to endorse Newell's candidacy. Doing so would ensure that Luke would still have a bright political future ahead of him. I hope he and his supporters do the right thing before Sept 9.
After getting back from the truly amazing Democratic convention, I still have one of Barack Obama's lines from his speech stuck in my head:
Change doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.
I feel that it would be just as easy, if not easier, to substitute "Albany" for "Washington" in that sentence. Compared to Albany, Washington looks like a bastion of functionality.
In one week from today, co-Governor Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is facing his first electoral challenge in 26 years. In that time, he has committed many transgressions, from repealing the commuter tax, to killing the congestion pricing without even giving the voters of NY the dignity of letting them know where their legislators stand on the issues, to overseeing a pork-distribution system that almost puts Washington to shame, to presiding over a system of legislative district gerrymandering in which he agrees to let the GOP control the State Senate just so he can have a superfluous 108-seat majority in the Assembly, to engaging in truly shameless patronage, to negotiating budgets year after year behind closed doors with virtually no public input or oversight, to using underhanded legislative tactics to bankrupt municipalities at the behest of special interests, to refusing the public the respect to know how much he makes doing his day job work as a trial lawyer. All of this has happened with zero voter accountability since Ronald Reagan was President and McCain wouldn't be a national laughingstock for referring to "Checkoslovakia."
One week from today, all that changes. Obama delegate and reformer Paul Newell is running a spirited campaign against Sheldon Silver in the Democratic primary a week from today. Silver also has another challenger, Luke Henry- Luke is a good guy and I do not buy the conspiracy theories that he is a stalking-horse for Sliver to divide the opposition. However, Newell has run a better campaign, has deeper roots in the district, and has passed the credibility threshold indicated by his endorsements by the New York Times and other newspapers.
If you want to help turn the tide and bring change to Albany, please get involved in the Newell campaign. Here is an excerpt of an email they sent out a few days ago:
Every day for the next 10 days we need your help. Handing out literature, making phone calls, knocking on doors or just helping around the office.. It's a lot of fun, and it is the only way we can compete with Sheldon Silver's millions of dollars in special interest money.
In particular, if you have time on September 9th - we need all hands on deck. Please call us at 646-415-8273 today to let us know when you can make it in.
With just over a week to go, the campaign is speeding up. Since we received the New York Times endorsement, we have directly contacted over 1,000 voters, and raised over $40,000 from over 200 donors. Lower Manhattanites are ready for New Ideas. Help us deliver them.
Together we can bring real change Downtown.
In one week, I promise all my fire will be directed at Republicans, and if Shelly hangs on to his seat, I will completely support him against any Republican opponent he may have.
But until then, please consider helping bring change to Albany. Paid troll confused Carl Brinkers of the world notwithstanding, a Crain's poll back in 2007 found that 73% of New Yorkers favored removing Sheldon Silver from power. Let's hope the voters get their wish in 7 days.
UPDATE:Azi is reporting that Newell has outraised both Shelly and Henry in his 11-day pre-primary report:
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.
Sorry, Henry supporters- $510? Newell is running the stronger campaign. Please coalesce around the strongest opposition to Silver, that being Paul Newell. Henry has established himself well to run for Alan Gerson's city council seat in 2009.
I caught a quick story from the Times-Union reported yesterday about Governor's Paterson's comments from Denver. While the crux of his points focused on the Assembly's budget and the failure of the State Senate thus far to pass any cuts, there was an interesting nugget in there; Governor Paterson is clearly supporting Silver and looking to give him some political cover.
This morning's New York Times contains endorsements for challengers in both the AD-64 and SD-25 primaries. The Times likes Paul Newell and Dan Squadron in their bids to upset long time incumbents Shelly Silver and Marty Connor. It's written in the "throw the bums out, all of 'em" style that has characterized so much of the paper's editorial stance towards Albany in recent years.
Most New Yorkers want a better, fairer, more open State Legislature instead of the embarrassment they now endure. For the primary on Sept. 9, there are two Democratic races in New York City that offer a chance to make a change in Albany or, at least make a strong statement about how badly change is needed.
The most important of these races is in Lower Manhattan, where Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the most powerful people in the state, is facing his first real challenge in decades. It is still an uphill fight for any opponent, but the race has already made one difference. It has brought the ever-secretive Mr. Silver out to meet voters and campaign for his job.
Of the two challengers, Paul Newell, a community activist with deep roots in the Lower East Side, has the stronger credentials. Luke Henry, an attorney who moved into the district more recently, is working hard. Mr. Newell has done a better job of identifying Mr. Silver's weaknesses: mainly, his devotion to closed-door politics, including his refusal to disclose details about his outside income. Mr. Newell is also pledging to support congestion pricing and to press for a nonpartisan redistricting commission, which is essential for real change. In the 64th Assembly District, we endorse Paul Newell.
In the 25th State Senate District in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, another challenger deserves support. He is Daniel Squadron, an energetic former aide to United States Senator Charles Schumer who is running against Senator Martin Connor. Mr. Connor has been in this seat for three decades and accomplished far too little. He has also made a good living as an attorney bumping potential candidates off of New York ballots. Mr. Squadron says he is committed to cleaning up Albany and that serving in the Senate would be his only job. If Mr. Squadron wants to prove his commitment to reform then he still needs to be more forthcoming about his financial holdings. That said, we endorse Mr. Squadron as an enthusiastic new outsider.
For some reason, the AD-64 race has become the hot topic du jour among the NY media. Tomorrow's edition of the Village Voice has a bombshell article on that huge empty lot on the south-eastern part of Delancey Street and how Shelly's "Dr. No" approach to everything has basically kept it that way for more than a generation:
Just south of Delancey Street on the Lower East Side, near the bustling entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge, lies that rarest Manhattan commodity: vacant land.
This is not just a few buildable lots, but a huge swath of property, some five acres in all, every square inch of it owned by the City of New York. It is a fabulous parcel, the kind that developers-like those building theswanky new towers rising on the other side of Delancey Street-only dream about.
(snip)
But not here. These weed-strewn lots have stood for more than a generation, their grim chain-link fencing, topped with barbed wire, all that passes for a streetscape. No one has dared break ground here in decades. Every promise to do so, every initiative that might bring new construction, has been buried by the political masters who control this barren turf.
Just who might these "political masters" be?
Who has such clout? Who tells a mayor, an entire city, to simply buzz off?
Who else but that wily old pol, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. This strip-carried on zoning maps as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area-is the northern edge of Silver's lower Manhattan district. And while he rarely leaves fingerprints, nothing moves here without his approval. In Albany, where he is the state's second-most-powerful figure, Silver is notorious for his often-obstructionist ways. On Seward Park, he has outdone himself. Under his watch, this territory has remained desolate and empty for more than 30 years, held hostage to stubborn prejudice and fear of change.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but Shelly just might be wary of allowing a huge population influx into his district- one that changes his electorate in ways he can't predict or control.
Regardless of his motives, the article is a greeat read that delves into the racial and generational divides of the area since it was leveled at the height of the misguided urban renewal era in 1967.
Even more, it serves as a powerful metaphor of Silver's tenure in the Assembly- a huge, gaping vacant lot left to fester for over a generation because of an utterly bewildering fear of change and progress by one politician with more power than any single person should ever posess in a democracy. Go read the whole thing.
The single most important political contest in New York this year is the reelection race of Manhattan Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, a Democrat who doubles as speaker of the state Assembly - the second most-powerful post in state government after governor.
I would actually argue that Silver is more powerful than the governor, because the Governor can have his veto overridden by 2/3 of the Legislature, whereas Silver's refusal to bring a bill to a vote can not be overridden by any amount of the other Assemblymembers. But nonetheless, he continues:
Fewer than 12,000 voters are expected to cast ballots in the 64th District, which covers all or part of the lower East Side, the East Village, Chinatown, Wall Street and Battery Park City.
But their choice will affect New York's 19 million residents.
That's because the screwed-up setup in Albany places vast influence in the hands of three men: governor, Senate majority leader - and Assembly speaker.
Every year, the trio negotiate the state budget in near-total secrecy before dumping a phone-book-size document on the desks of legislators for a vote within minutes of receiving it.
(snip)
They will be voting - for the 19 million of us who can't - on the record of a powerful pol who has, for too long, been accountable to nobody.
That's essentially Albany in a nutshell for ya.
And Bouldin puts the length of time Silver has been accountable to nobody in persepctive:
Think about this for a moment: one elected official, with power equal to or greater than that of any statewide elected official, has gone over two decades without a challenge. When Silver was last challenged, Gorbachev was running the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan was President, and a guy named Barack Obama had just moved to Chicago to become a community organizer.
Bouldin also notes how it's amazing how a contested election can get a legislator to... actually give a $#!T about how his constituents percieve him:
This primary has been nothing but salutary for the people of that district. Suddenly, there's a mobile constituent services office - which leads one to wonder why that didn't seem to be a worthy idea in a year when the Speaker isn't getting challenged at the polls - a rumored if unconfirmed campaign web site, and repeated appearances by the incumbent in a district he's all but neglected in favor of the gleaming marble offices of the Albany Capitol.
While despite his 22% approval rating, Silver will probably get re-elected in this election because the opposition is split between two challengers, I don't think there's anything controversial about saying that this challenge has been a good exercise in democracy for a pol who's been unaccountable for far too long.
And while many people lament that despite the "three men in a room" changing between Pataki, Spitzer, Paterson, Bruno, and Skelos the structure never changes, I would argue that nothing has changed because none of those men have been changed at the ballot box. If the voters do indeed revolt, it could at least bring the possibility of structural reform.
Last week, Downtown Express ran an article profiling both Newell and Henry as the challengers to Shelly. It contained this passage about Henry:
Henry, however, thinks he would not be less powerful than Silver. He claimed that if elected, he would have as much access to the governor as Silver does, since Lower Manhattan is key to the development of New York City and the state as a whole.
I thought this quote was a little counter-productive, as the whole point of replacing Silver is to change the system where the Assembly Speaker is essentially a co-Governor, actually having stronger veto power than the Governor within the Assembly. I emailed the Henry campaign for clarification and got this response:
The question and my response related to access to the governor. I believe I'll have the same access to the governor that Speaker Silver enjoys because of Lower Manhattan's importance to New York City and the state as a whole. In fact, I fully intend to develop an even stronger working relationship with the governor. I'm confident I can do so because the Speaker is so often at odds with the governor as a result of employing legislative tactics to quash the governor's legislative priorities without debate or the opportunity for compromise. I am running in order to diminish the amount of unilateral power that the Speaker wields so that the executive and legislative branches can work together to solve the state's problems, and so that I can bring needed change home to the 64th Assembly District.
Then I emailed Newell for his comment, and he had this to say:
The problem is not with whom Sheldon Silver has access to, but who has access to Sheldon Silver. After 32 years in Albany's cloistered rooms, Silver listens only to the special interests and power brokers who keep him in power. Shut out of that room are working and middle class Lower Manhattanites concerned about affordable housing, quality schools and livable streets. If Luke Henry wants Sheldon Silver's access to power brokers, he is not only naïve, but misguided. My goal is to be accessible to Lower Manhattanites.
I fear that Shelly will benefit greatly from a divided opposition, but it seems like that's what we've got, folks.
We are creating this blog solely because Silver single-handedly killed congestion pricing in New York City.
Congestion pricing would have placed a charge on cars driving in Manhattan. The idea was to reduce traffic, clean the air, and generate funding for mass transit. By reducing pollution, it would have made jogging, biking, and other outdoor activities possible year round. It would have saved the lives of countless asthmatic children. Finally, it would have saved the New York City subway system, which is now $900 million in debt.
By killing congestion pricing, Silver will be responsible for countless deaths, and for reducing the quality of life of people throughout New York City.
Not sure who's behind this blog, but it's hard to argue with the message.
This past week has seen much blogger mulling over different campaign finance filings and what they mean. Since one of my criticisms of Co-Governor Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is that he doesn't want the Democrats to take State Senate, I figured I'd go over Shelly's campaign finance filings to see if my contention is backed up by numbers.
Indeed, it is.
Looking at the public info of expenditures of Shelly's two committees, Friends of SIlver and
SPEAKERPAC, I have crunched the numbers. Here are my findings, minus the numbers for a handful of committees that are defunct and I could not figure out what office they are for.
Since 1999:
*Shelly gave at least $154,200 to Assembly Democrats, both incumbents and challengers.
*Shelly gave at least $33,950 to other non-statewide races around the state. All were Democrats, and they were all municipal elections from the NYC Council to County Executives to Judges to Mayoral Candidates to Borough Presidents. Most were NYC, but he made contributions all over, like for Nassau County Exec and Mayor of Syracuse.
*Shelly also gave at least $75,000 to statewide Democrats, namely Andrew Cuomo, Alan Hevesi, and Carl McCall.
*Shelly gave Marty Connor $10,000 in 2006 to help fight off his primary challenge from Ken Diamondstone.
*Shelly also gave lots of money to various Democratic Clubs and other local organizations.
So despite spending all these thousands of dollars on the whole gamut of Democratic politicians, committees, and clubs all around the state, Sheldon Silver has not given a single dime to a Democratic Senate Candidate other than Marty Connor in a primary fight. Democratic Senate challengers in recent years, like Albert Baldeo and Nora Marino in 2006 (when Silver ally, Denny Farrell was heading the state party) were left hanging without sufficient funds to defeat otherwise vulnerable Republican Senators. Even ones that did manage to win, like Andrea Stewart-Cousins, had to do so without Shelly's help.
Think about that- not a single dime. This from a supposed leader in our party, someone who by all rights should be pushing hard for a Democratic Senate if he wants any of the progressive legislation he sponsors in the Assembly to become law.
But he doesn't.
With Shelly, it's all about him and his power. On the night of Darrel Aubertine's vitcory, I wrote about an anonymous Assembly Democrat who had this to say to Azi about Aubertine's victory:
"Losers are democratic assembly members in districts with democratic senators who by this fall will no longer be the only Dems that can pass legislation. Don't cite me as the source for that one."
Like that unnamed Assemblymember, Shelly probably wants to be the Democrats' top dog in the legislature. A Majority Leader Smith would eclipse a lot of his power. Additionally, with a Democratic Senate, Shelly can no longer hide behind Senate Republicans for excuses on why he doesn't pass rules reform, campaign finance reform, redistricting reform, or all other types of reform.
Shelly simply does not want the Democrats to take the Senate. Ever.
I look forward to the Shelly apologists' spin on this one.
