NY Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver must resign (Editorial)
It
should go without saying that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver -- charged Thursday with
taking millions of dollars in graft -- must resign from that job. He's
politically crippled, ethically bankrupt and supremely unfit to lead.
But
that may not be enough. Silver
should consider quitting Albany entirely -- for the good of the institution, the
good of the state and the good of the people.
The
speaker has professed his innocence, and he will have his day in court. However,
from now on he will carry the taint of corruption wherever he goes.
Say Silver does quit his leadership job but remains in the Legislature. After 20 years as speaker, does anyone believe he would be content to be a back-bencher in the Assembly? It doesn't matter where he sits in the chamber; Silver still will be pulling the strings.
Say Silver does quit his leadership job but remains in the Legislature. After 20 years as speaker, does anyone believe he would be content to be a back-bencher in the Assembly? It doesn't matter where he sits in the chamber; Silver still will be pulling the strings.
Need
proof? Just look at the Assembly Democrats lining up behind their leader in his hour of crisis. Have you ever seen
(or heard) a more deluded bunch?"We
have every confidence that the speaker is going to continue to fulfill his role
with distinction," Rochester Assemblyman Joe Morelle said. This was before he
read the 35-page criminal complaint against Silver.
We recommend that everyone read it -- and weep. Then demand
more from your elected officials than blind allegiance to their embattled
leader.
With corruption charges hanging over the
speaker's head, any deals Cuomo and Skelos might cut with him would be suspect
in the eyes of the public.
Syracuse
Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, a lawyer himself, said this after Silver's arrest:
"It's the same as it was yesterday. Nothing has changed except there's this new
wrinkle, so to speak."
On
the contrary, Mr. Magnarelli. Everything has changed. If the allegations are
true, Albany's cancer of corruption reaches right to the top. At minimum, our
elected leaders should remove Silver from the speaker role.
As
one of Albany's "three men in a room,'' along with the governor and the Senate
majority leader, Silver has negotiated every piece of important legislation
passed in New York state over the past two decades. The New York Times called Silver "a mercurial and potent force who could
single-handedly sink the most cherished plans of mayors and governors.''
It's
ironic that one of Albany's most opaque politicians appears to have been done in
by aroutine ethics disclosure form. It's doubly ironic that the
seeds of Silver's downfall were sown by the Moreland Commission to Investigate
Public Corruption -- which he succeeded in closing down as part of the last
budget deal. Thankfully, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara picked
up where Moreland left off.
Now,
with corruption charges hanging over the speaker's head, any deals Gov. Andrew
Cuomo and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos might cut with him would be suspect
in the eyes of the public.
Silver
is damaged goods. He should leave Albany before they run him out on a rail.
