A career politician finally got stopped.
Silver is not such a powerful “amigo” anymore…
Sheldon Silver (democrat), considered one of the most powerful politicians in New York, was convicted Monday for taking bribes and lying about it. Silver is a career politician who has served the public since 1977.
Fox News reported that a Manhattan federal court jury returned the verdict after a three-week trial in which prosecutors claimed that the 71-year-old Democrat repeatedly promised the favors to enrich himself. The defense countered that the government was trying to criminalize the longtime routines of politics in Albany.
The government had argued that the trial testimony of 25 witnesses and lots of documents proved Silver traded his office for riches. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Goldstein told jurors they had to convict Silver if they found money played a role in his decisions.
“There are four million reasons why you know that money played a part,” said Goldstein, noting the amount of money the government says Silver earned from kickbacks from a cancer researcher and real estate developers. Prosecutors say he earned a million dollars more through investments.
Goldstein told jurors to reject the defense contention that Silver was just practicing politics as usual. “This was bribery. This was extortion. This was corruption,” Goldstein said.
Silver’s defense attorney, Steven Molo, said his client fought bribery and extortion charges because he knew he was not guilty. “He knows he did not commit a crime,” Molo said. “There was no quid quo pro. He did not sell his office.”
Silver did not testify. Among witnesses called by the government was Dr. Robert Taub, who said he steered numerous clients with cancer caused by asbestos to Silver’s law firm, enabling the legislator to pocket $3 million in referral fees. Meanwhile, testimony and evidence revealed, Silver caused $500,000 in taxpayer funds to go to Taub’s research projects and helped his son and daughter get a job and an internship. Prosecutors said Silver also delivered tax-abatement and rent-control legislation that favored developers while some of New York’s biggest developers hired a small law firm that secretly sent $700,000 in fees to the ex-speaker.
Silver, who gave up his speaker position but retained his assembly seat after his January arrest, has been on trial simultaneously with state Sen. Dean Skelos (republican) and his son on charges that the senator badgered companies reliant upon his legislative provide over $300,000 to his son.
The “three amigos”…
The two were among a group dubbed the “three men in a room” in Albany, a nod to the longstanding practice of legislative leaders and the governor negotiating key bills behind closed doors. Silver’s arrest came the day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo referred to Skelos, Silver and himself as the “three amigos” during his budget presentation.
Silver is not a fan of the Second Amendment (shocker, not). As Guns.com reported last January after his arrest, Silver had largely charted the course of legislation in the lower chamber of the New York state legislature for the past two decades. This included introducing the controversial gun control measure, the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act (SAFE) of 2013, to the Assembly and helping to rush it through in record time.
This law was passed in the middle of the night under a “message of necessity”, bypassing the state’s three-day required review period and was signed into law by Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo on the next day. Cuomo described the law as the “toughest” gun control law in the United States.
DCG
