Sheldon Silver

Here’s Paul Newell, the Democratic challenger who Assembly Speaker Sheldon conveniently can’t remember.

Newell is in Denver (he's an Obama delegate) and has a message about Silver's apparent amnesia.

Something else Silver might be interested in: Newell is being followed by a guy with a camera, Justin Sullivan, who told me he's making an independent documentary about the race.

DENVER—I chatted with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on the floor of the convention center just after David Paterson's speech, which he said he liked.

When I asked whether Paterson should have mentioned Hillary Clinton, Silver said, “Hillary will have, you know, her spotlight tonight.”

Here's Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver earlier this afternoon during David Paterson's convention speech, during which the governor praised Barack Obama as the best candidate for disabled Americans and offered sharp criticism of John McCain.

“Wages are declining while inflation is at a 17-year high,” Paterson said, adding that the “promise of America has also diminished for people with disabilities.”

“Which of the candidates will make the change that will restore the promise of America? Well, let see. Is it John McCain?” he asked. After the crowd shouted, “No!,” Paterson said, “No? I’m shocked.” He went on, “In 2007, John McCain voted with the administration 95 percent of the time.  read more »

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is having a closed-door reception for New York State Assembly members at (where else?) the East Side Kosher Deli in Denver.

“Even the name sounds like we never left home,” said one New Yorker.

Sheldon Silver will get another chance to remember Paul Newell when the challenger arrives in Denver.

Newell, a community organizer, is also an elected Obama delegate, but has been missing from the convention events so far. I called to inquire and he replied via text message (so fancy!), saying he’ll be here tomorrow.

Silver is also facing challenger Luke Henry, an attorney, in the Democratic primary next month.

DENVER—Last night, Bronx Democratic County Chairman Jose Rivera ran into Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver at the Sheraton Hotel, and, for the benefit of my camera, endorsed Silver for re-election.

When I asked why he's supporting Silver instead of one of the speaker's two challengers, Rivera said, “Because I’ve known him for over 25 years and he has not changed.”

Change is pretty much the theme out here in Denver, and of Barack Obama's campaign, of course, and even the driving force behind a number of challengers seeking office in Albany this year. When I pointed this out, Rivera threw his arm around Silver and said, “We’re doing great in the State of New York.”

Later, Rivera suggested the slogan for Silver's re-election campaign be "Hi-Ho Silver, All the Way!"

 

Hillary Clinton is still sending mixed messages.

Speaking at a press conference this morning following a breakfast with the New York delegation at the Sheraton hotel in Denver, during which called on her supporters to support Barack Obama, she said she would release her delegates to vote for Obama on Wednesday and would vote for Obama herself. But Clinton also argued that her delegates should have the chance to vote for her during Wednesday’s convention roll call.

Clinton spoke for about 15 minutes about the steady process of party unity and all the work she had done to convince her supporters to vote for Obama during the convention and in the election.  read more »

DENVER—At a reception he hosted last night at the Sheraton downtown, I asked Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver what he thinks about his primary challenger, Paul Newell, being endorsed by both The New York Times and the New York Post this week.

"Who's that?" Silver said.

Empire State Pride Agenda, the state’s largest gay lobbying organization, endorsed Sheldon Silver for re-election, along with Democratic Assemblyman Sam Hoyt of Buffalo (who probably has other things on his mind right now). 

The group also endorsed Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat and State Senator Kevin Parker, both of whom will face primary challenges from Democratic term-limited City Council members.

To be endorsed by the group, lawmakers must support same-sex marriage. Silver allowed a measure that would legalize same-sex marriage to come to a vote, and it passed. He also voted  for it. Silver might be able to use the endorsement to argue that, like his challengers, he has progressive credentials.

Silver faces attorney Luke Henry and community organizer Paul Newell, who got The New York Times endorsement this morning.

What to make of Michael Bloomberg diving head first into a series of contested Democratic primaries today?

Barbara Barteletti of the League of Women Conservation Voters sounded disappointed that the billionaire mayor was endorsing, and not funding, his preferred candidates.

“That sheds a little different light on it,” she said, noting, “Under New York State campaign finance laws, he can throw as much money at them as he wants.” (So can Republican billionaire Tom Golisano and his P.A.C.)

But, she said, “The fact that he’s only endorsing them--that he’s using his political goodwill as mayor in those areas of New York City, means a great deal.  read more »

Thirty-year incumbent State Senator Marty Connor's opponent, the Schumer-back first-time candidate Dan Squadron, was just endorsed by Michael Bloomberg.

Connor told me he's not interested in the mayor's support.

Reached on his cell phone just now, the senator said, “I’m proud that I have Democrats supporting me. The last time I looked, Mike Bloomberg wasn’t a Democrat. He was helping the Republicans keep the State Senate.”

Republican political consultant Gerry O’Brien isn’t sure what to make of Bloomberg’s support of Squadron.

“It could be an anti-Albany thing. It could be a pro-Schumer thing,” he said. Overall, however, he said the message is, “Mike Bloomberg still counts, he matters.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg just endorsed incumbent Democratic Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat, the mayor's second endorsement in as many hours.

Espaillat is being challenged by term-limited City Councilman Miguel Martinez in a northern Manhattan district.

In the statement released by the Espaillat campaign, Bloomberg said, "From his outspoken support of congestion pricing to his successful push to make the Gansevoort Marine Transfer Station a reality, Adriano has been a clear voice for our environments and against entrenched special interests and shortsighted parochial concerns. It is exactly this kind of independent leadership that we need to send back to Albany.”

It's implicitly critical of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who is widely blamed for the failure of Bloomberg's congestion pricing after he refused to bring it to a vote.  read more »

The executive director of the labor-backed Working Families party just released a statement reiterating his opposition to the property tax cap that was passed in the State Senate today, saying it was wrong for those senators to "side" with Governor David Paterson on the plan.

Dan Cantor, Executive Director of the Working Families Party said: "The Senate made the wrong choice today in siding with Governor Paterson on his tax cap plan that will badly hurt school children without cutting taxes.
Thankfully a majority of Senate and Assembly Democrats and leaders like Speaker Sheldon Silver are standing up for our public schools and for real property tax relief. The Assembly's supports full funding for our schools and providing real relief to middle class families and seniors who need it most."

State Senate Leader Dean Skelos just announced he’s bringing lawmakers in his house back to Albany this Friday to pass a property tax cap bill.

It’s a measure that Skelos notes is favored by Democratic Governor David Paterson.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has said earlier that he opposed capping property taxes because that could leave school districts, which rely on property taxes, unable to pay their bills.

Which puts Silver in a familiar role of opposing the governor and State Senate leader. Just like old times.

Here’s that decade-old shark ad I referenced earlier, in which the New York Republican State Committee told upstate voters that “Sheldon Silver and the New York City Democrats just picked a New York City liberal for every major statewide office.”

And they’re going to tax and spend, the ad says. While the ad only names Sheldon Silver, it was a not-so-veiled effort to protect Republican Senator Al D'Amato from his Democratic challenger that year, then-congressman Chuck Schumer.

The regional appeal is similar -- in spirit, at least -- to the plea Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos made in his letter to upstate billionaire Tom Golisano - who says he’ll spend $5 million in this year’s legislative races.  read more »

In a letter dated today to billionaire Tom Golisano - who is vowing to pour $5 million into this year‘s elections - Republican Senate leader Dean Skelos makes the case that Republicans are the ones who have tried to make state government fiscally prudent and transparent.

And Skelos ends the letter by reminding Golisano, a Rochester man, that Democrats aren't so much from upstate. (Old theme!)

“Without the checks and balances we assure, state government would be totally controlled by Democrats from New York City. Keep in mind that a Democrat-controlled Senate would be lead by Malcolm Smith of Queens, Tom Duane from Greenwich Village (Manhattan) and Jeff Klein from the Bronx. The Assembly would be lead by Speaker Sheldon Silver of Manhattan. Thus, it is critical that you join our fight and help us achieve reform.”

Here’s Sheldon Silver playfully introducing Democratic County Leader Jose Rivera, also an assemblyman, at the Bronx Democratic County Dinner last night.

Silver told the crowd that Rivera was “in the Assembly for five years and he went to Albany Medical Center and the doctor told him to go on light duty. So, he went to the City Council for 13 years. And then he was all cured and he came back. Now he’s working again real hard.”

“I say that in jest,” said Silver to Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Guests also included Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, likely Republican mayoral candidate John Catisimatidis (who had brief chats with Silver and Cuomo); City Council members Eric Gioia, John Liu, and David Weprin; Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV; and former county leader Roberto Ramirez.

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Say one thing for Eliot Spitzer, in light of newly released testimony from the Troopergate affair: He knows how to stick to a story.

The former governor was spared, from a legal standpoint, because, according to the State Commission on Public Integrity: "[t]he failure to supervise subordinates, without more, does not violate the Public Officers Law." (The commission made public some 277 pages of sworn testimony it took from Mr. Spitzer on May 9 in Manhattan, and found that four of Mr. Spitzer's aides violates ethics law.)

But the documents do show the way in which Mr. Spitzer held fast to his claim, even after he left office, that it was his staff and not he who ordered the state police to create and disseminate travel records of Joe Bruno, who was then majority leader in the State Senate and Mr.  read more »

Sheldon Silver, who is facing a Democratic primary for the firs time in more than two decades, has raised $308,044.93 this filing period. He has $3,039,290.90 of cash left on hand for his campaign [number fixed].

Notable expenditure: $22,500 in March for polling by the Boston-based Kiley & Company.

UPDATE: A reader emails to say there's another $24,000 polling expenditure on 7/10 and another one for $332.55 on 4/17.

Here's one of Sheldon Silver’s Democratic opponents, Luke Henry, speaking before an endorsement meeting of the Stonewall Democratic Club last week.

In this clip, Henry challenges Silver’s commitment to same-sex marriage because, even as Silver helped it pass in the Assembly, he did little to try to flip the Republican-controlled State Senate, where the issue died.

“If there was a true, true commitment to these issues, we would have seen all his weight and force applied to the State Senate, which has been the obstacle. So that $3 million war chest should have been applied to the State Senate -- to making sure the State Senate was Democratic a long time ago.”

Stonewall voted to endorse Silver for re-election.

The Stonewall Democratic Club, one of the city's largest gay political clubs, held an endorsement meeting last night.

According to a club member, here is who the club is endorsing in a few key races:

-Challenger Kevin Powell over incumbent Representative Ed Towns

-Incumbent State Senator Marty Connor over insurgent Dan Squadron

-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver over his two challengers, Paul Newell and Luke Henry

-Incumbent State Senator Kevin Parker over challengers Kendall Stewart and Simcha Felder

-Manhattan Surrogate's Court candidate Nora Anderson

For those that want to get on the ballot this September in New York City, July 15 10 is the deadline to submit the signatures required, or, in the case of most candidates, including Sheldon Silver, more.

Silver's spokesman Jonathan Rosen e-mails, "More than 100 volunteers from across Lower Manhattan collected nearly 8,000 signatures to keep Shelly Silver as their voice in Albany." He also said that the Silver campaign has no plans to challenge anyone else's petitions.

The exact number of signatures required varies per district, but most Assembly candidates need only about 1,000 signatures to get on the ballot. Silver has two challengers also trying to get on the ballot.

Also at last night’s fund-raiser for Kevin Powell was one of Sheldon Silver’s opponents, Paul Newell.

It seemed like Newell, and fellow challenger Luke Henry, might get a boost when billionaire Tom Golisano announced he would launch a $5 million PAC to help shake up the legislative races and change Albany’s leadership-driven style of politics. But when Golisano made the announcement, he said he didn’t even know who was challenging Silver.

It might be somewhat mutual.

Last night, I asked Newell if he had gotten in touch with Golisano, as a campaign aide told reporters they would.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Newell said.

 

Rochester billionaire and three-time gubernatorial candidate Tom Golisano waved a $5 million check in front of reporters in Albany this morning and said he was forming a political action committee – “Responsible New York” – that he promised would help liberate lawmakers from the grip of party leaders.

Golisano has yet to endorse any legislative candidates, but his PAC will work on behalf of those who share his vision of reform. So far, he said, he has met with three Democrats running for the state Senate against incumbent Republicans. When asked about the G.O.P.’s slim control of that chamber, Golisano, who is still a registered Republican, said, “It has not been successful,” and he later wondered aloud why anybone would register with a political party.  read more »

Many people have thought for a long time that Michael Bloomberg’s solid waste plan--which included opening a garbage transfer station near Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District--would never pass in Albany, given that three Assembly members from Manhattan opposed it.

But at the end of session last week, the bill suddenly passed, with Sheldon Silver's support, although those Manhattan Assembly members still opposed it.

Matthew Washington, deputy director for Friends of Hudson River Park, which opposed the plan, couldn't quite explain what had changed. “Very early on, it seemed like he [Silver] was supportive of his members--Dick Gottfried, Deborah Glick, Linda Rosenthal--who’ve always been against using the Gansevoort site as a marine transfer station," Washington told me.  read more »

Recently, I wrote about the (legal and normal) process by which some politically connected nonprofits continue to get a good deal of money in City Council-distributed member items.

In the comments section on that post, a vigorous discussion ensued about the size of the salary earned by executive director William Rapfogel of the not-for-profit Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, which got $500,000 in member items this year.

For the record: he makes a lot of money by non-profit-world standards, but not quite as much as some commenters guessed.

According to Rapfogel, who I talked to on the phone just now, his current salary is $379,000, which squares with the number in the group’s 2005-2006 tax filing, the most recent one available online.

This is the first batch of member items to go through a new, more rigorous vetting process.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who hasn’t faced a Democratic opponent in 22 years, was out campaigning this Sunday, a spokesman for his campaign confirmed.

“Assembly member Silver spent some time on Sunday with a longtime resident of Village View who introduced him to some of her neighbors to hear their concerns and talk about his record fighting to preserve affordable housing in Lower Manhattan,” said Silver campaign spokesman Jonathan Rosen in an e-mail.

Silver’s campaign previously said he would not campaign until the legislative session ended and "once we know who all the candidates will be.”

That second part is usually code for the July 10 deadline for petitions and whatever additional time it takes to challenge the validity of those petitions in court. It looks like Silver isn't waiting.

This year, he's facing two Democratic opponents: Luke “Skywalker” Henry and Paul “Obamawitz” Newell.

 

Michael Bloomberg doesn't have very many reasons to be happy with Albany.

But here's one, maybe: Sheldon Silver is making encouraging noises about the mayor's effort to get a waste transfer station sited inside Gansevoort Park, an idea that seemed to stall in face of protests.

Here's a transcript, courtesy of an interested reader, of what Silver said during a press conference yesterday:

“One of the major problems with the bill that the Senate passed is that the actual language of the bill declares that a waste transfer station shall be deemed park purposes. We’re trying to understand if that means that children should be playing with the trucks that come in and out or the garbage that goes in and out.  read more »

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At a press conference in Albany earlier this afternoon, a very animated Sheldon Silver made the case against capping property taxes because, he says, it would hamper education spending.

Surrounded by legislative leaders, including David Paterson, who supports the tax cap, Silver said, “I want to know when school districts are paying double for fuel. We don’t tell them: ‘Tell the kids to bring sweaters and put the thermostat at 58 degrees.' I want to know the resources are at the schools.”

Silver also made the case that some people who are slated to get property tax relief may not really need it.

“I want to know we’re delivering property tax relief to people that need it, not people who choose to own five and ten million dollar mansions, who make more than a million dollars a year.”

One of Sheldon Silver’s Democratic opponents is asking him to release his tax returns, and, in making the case for him to do so, is quoting one of Silver's allies: Marty Connor.

In this Downtown Express article, Connor, who has been Silver's legislative partner and election lawyer for years, said he would release his own taxes for the last five years and says, “Why not do it?"  read more »

David Paterson spoke with Barack Obama around 2 p.m., he told reporters in Midtown during the New York State Democratic Party’s meeting.

“He asked me how the first two and a half months were going," Paterson said. "And I told him it might have even been more difficult than your campaign.”  read more »

From Geoffrey Gray's New York magazine profile of State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver:

He recalls a conversation he had with Robert Rubin—the former Treasury secretary, current Citigroup director, and friend of the billionaire mayor’s. Rubin, like us, was also stuck in traffic and decided to give Silver a call to talk up the proposal. Silver says, “Let me ask you something, Bob. Are you in one of those limo-type cars?” He was.  read more »

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It should, theoretically, be the least of concerns for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's primary challengers to petition successfully for a place on the ballot. (Only 500 signatures are required in the district.) But they're not taking any chances.

This morning, one of Silver’s opponents, Luke Henry, announced that he’s retained Alan Zimmerman, a petition specialist. In announcing Zimmerman's hire, Henry's campaign said, "No campaign for which Zimmerman has directed the petitioning operation has ever failed to get onto the ballot. This is no small accomplishment in New York, where candidates are often 'bumped' from the ballot for failing to comply with meaningless technicalities."  read more »

David Paterson said this morning that he expects to call a special session of the Legislature to negotiate budget cuts, possibly even before the next election, although he acknowledged that the legislative leaders—Joe Bruno and Sheldon Silver—would prefer to wait until after the elections are over.

"Time is not on our side here," Paterson said, speaking on Fred Dicker's radio show on Talk 1300. "I do have some sympathy for the cuts we made to SUNY," he said, but went on to add, "We need to find an overall solution" for the state budget deficit.  read more »

Luke Henry, one of Sheldon Silver's Democratic opponents, announced this morning that he's opening 400-square-foot campaign office on Madison Street in the middle of the lower Manhattan Assembly district.

Silver's other Democratic opponent, Paul Newell, opened a campaign office in Chinatown earlier.  read more »

In this clip from the DFNYC-Young Manhattan Democrats debate last Sunday, both Paul Newell and Luke Henry are asked if they would step aside to improve the other's chances against the incumbent they hope to unseat: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Both say no.

Henry, an attorney, also says he's the more viable candidate because he has more lawyers and money. Community organizer Newell says that “there is no question” that “the winds of change are blowing” in the district.

Of course, the argument between Silver's challengers about viability is purely relative. And perhaps one of them might feel more compelled to step aside if either had a a discernable route to victory. Consensus, needless to say, is that the don't.

As consultant Joe Mercurio told me, “I can’t even envision a way to beat Sheldon Silver."  read more »

The second part of yesterday’s DFNYC debate was for the Assembly race in Sheldon Silver's district, where the speaker faces two challengers: attorney Luke Henry and community organizer Paul Newell.
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One benefit to running against a longtime incumbent, as one of Sheldon Silver’s Democratic primary opponents shows, is that you can raise money in eye-catching amounts, like $32 (for the number of years Silver has been in office), or $354 (which is the number of millions NYC lost when they shot down congestion pricing).

Also, notably, I'd be willing to bet that the Assembly speaker has spent comparatively little time at Piano's, the Lower East Side music venue where, according to this flier, Paul Newell is holding his May 22 event.

There was some expectation that Sheldon Silver would attend the Stonewall Democratic Club annual fund-raiser on West 26th Street last night, since he already had a ticket, but the Assembly speaker didn't make it.

He did, however, send spokesman Dan Weiller, who is openly gay.  read more »

Democracy for New York City, the progressive group related to Howard Dean's Democracy for America, is holding a forum on Sunday, May 18 for the candidates in two upcoming elections: the one for Sheldon Silver's Assembly seat, and the challenge to State Senator Marty Connor.
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David Brock's group Progressive Media has scaled back its planned $40 million effort because the Obama campaign disapproves of 527s. [The Fix]

Obama said George W. Bush's comments about appeasement were a false attack. [AP]

Kirsten Gillibrand had a boy. [Capitol Confidential]  read more »

Here’s Village Voice investigative reporter Wayne Barrett in City Hall today, saying that Christine Quinn shouldn’t necessarily be held responsible for the City Council's recent troubles.
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In this campaign video, one of Sheldon Silver’s opponents, Luke Henry, hits the street to push his fund-raising philosophy.
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Should Governor Paterson indeed move the Moynihan Station project under the control of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as he said he wants to do, at least two members of the State Assembly are poised to resist the action: Richard Gottfried, the district’s representative, and Richard Brodsky, the chairman of the committee that oversees public authorities.

“It’s a New York project; it ought to be run by a New York agency,” Mr. Brodsky said. “As a bi-state authority, they [the Port Authority] have been unresponsive, remote and immune to reform.”

Moving Moynihan from the state-controlled Empire State Development Corporation to the Port Authority would remove the Legislature from any direct control over the project, taking away its ability to pass laws about the plan or have approval power via the Public Authorities Control Board. (The PACB blocked the project from moving forward in a phased plan at the end of the Pataki administration.)  read more »