The New York Times is reporting that NY State Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver will be arrested today (Thurs 1/22) on corruption charges.
Sheldon Silver, New York Assembly Speaker, Faces Arrest on Corruption Charges By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM, THOMAS KAPLAN and SUSANNE CRAIGFederal authorities are expected to arrest Sheldon Silver, the powerful speaker of the New York State Assembly, on corruption charges on Thursday, people with knowledge of the matter said, in a case that is likely to throw Albany into disarray.
The investigation that led to the expected charges against Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who has served as speaker for more than two decades, began after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in March abruptly shut down an anticorruption commission he had created in 2013.
Details of the specific charges to be brought against Mr. Silver were unclear on Wednesday night, but one of the people with knowledge of the matter said they stemmed from payments that Mr. Silver received from a small law firm that specializes in seeking reductions of New York City real estate taxes. Mr. Silver failed to list the payments from the firm, Goldberg & Iryami, on his annual financial disclosure filings, as required.
The total amount of the payments was unclear, but another person has said they were substantial and were made over several years.
The bad news - this may weaken the Democratic State Assembly in fights over the budget against he Republican-gerrymandered State Senate, and the corporate "Democratic" Governor Andrew Cuomo. Silver, who may have to step aside as Speaker once he is arrested, has dominated the Assembly for years, and there is no obvious successor.The good news - it may strengthen the pressure for real ethics reform and public financing of campaigns. Cuomo again gave lip service to public financing in his State of the State message yesterday, but in the past has failed to use his clout to push it through. In particular he refused to include the public financing plan based on the NYC program in his budget last year. A dubious court ruling a few years ago gave the Governor the power to legislate though the budget process, with the governor's budget going into effect by default if there is no "three way" agreement between the Governor, the Assembly, and the Senate. But the Machiavellian Governor, who unlike his father is not ambivalent about seeking the Presidency, may feel it is in his interest to create a record of cleaning up official corruption.