Susan Lerner, with the government reform group Common Cause, said that attitude shows how out of touch politicians in Albany are.
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Thirty state lawmakers have left office because of criminal charges or allegations of misconduct since 2000.
Republican Assemb. Steve McLaughlin of Schaghticoke said Silver’s indictment was “an indictment of the culture of Albany and the three-men-in-a-room culture”, referring to the private negotiations of all major issues by the governor and Senate and Assembly leaders.
“Today, Sheldon Silver got justice, and at long last, so did the people of NY”, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who oversaw the case, said in a statement.
He says that appeals process could take years, and he believes Silver will remain free on bail during that time.
Because he was convicted of multiple felonies, Silver was automatically removed from the Assembly. He had been speaker since 1994.
Silver’s attorneys did not call any witnesses during the trial. However with instructions from Judge Valerie Caproni to respectfully exchange views, jurors settled down & resumed work.
“Let’s dispense with the nonsense … and let’s talk about the evidence, which Sheldon Silver tried desperately to keep secret for years”, he said. A few days later, a juror asked to be dismissed after spraining her ankle – the second of four alternate jurors was used to replace her. The dual trials have had a tremendous impact on the workings of Albany, casting a pall over the idea of business-as-usual in the capital-which is what Mr. Silver’s lawyers have maintained was going on, despite prosecutor’s insistence the conduct was illegal- and slowing down negotiations over the budget late past year.
“This was bribery. This was extortion”.
“That defense is absurd”, Goldstein said.
“He knows he did not commit a crime”, Molo said. “He did not sell his office”.
Silver did not testify. Silver then gave his support to two state Dept. of Health grants totaling $500,000 for Taub’s research, according to prosecutors.
Cited as a roadblock to legal reform in New York, Silver has listed income from the New York City asbestos firm Weitz and Luxenberg and the real estate law firm Goldberg & Iryami.
Meanwhile, Skelos and his son have been on trial in another Manhattan federal courtroom.
Adam Skelos, the son of Sen.
Both Silver and Skelos resigned their leadership posts after their arrests but kept their seats.
The charges followed an investigation by an anti-corruption commission, which began in 2013.
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The veteran lawmaker’s arrest in January sent shockwaves through New York’s Capitol.
