Posted on 10/02/2008 11:53:05 AM PDT by neverdem
If there's a costlier, less direct and more wasteful way for state government to do something, count on Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to find it.
That rule certainly applies to Silver's zigzag, fossil-fuel-heavy commute to Albany from his district in lower Manhattan.
Silver, who goes back and forth dozens of times a year, bizarrely insists on booking commercial flights for the 150-mile trip - even though driving or hopping a train would be cheaper for taxpayers, quicker for him and easier on the planet.
Even when no direct flight is available, according to The New York Sun, the speaker has repeatedly flown to Washington - 200 miles in the wrong direction - and sat in an airport for an hour or more to make his connection.
These rides typically set taxpayers back $500 to $760 per round trip and take upward of four hours one way, says The Sun (an excellent paper, which, sadly, is set to publish its last edition Tuesday). They also give Silver a Sasquatch-sized carbon footprint.
Driving the Thruway, by contrast, would take three hours each way and cost the state $175 total. Amtrak could get him there in 2-1/2 hours each way for $110 round trip.
"It makes no sense from an efficiency standpoint, it makes no sense from a cost standpoint, and it makes no sense from an environmental standpoint," says Susan Lerner of Common Cause. "It's inexplicable."
Inexplicable, yes, but also the perfect metaphor for how Silver does business.
Whether booking air travel or cutting political deals, Shelly the Sphinx rarely plays things straight. He baffles his negotiating partners by keeping his motives hidden and appearing to zig when he really intends to zag. And he doesn't mind wasting a bunch of time and other people's money.
Take Silver's call last week to reinstate New York City's commuter tax. It makes perfect sense that a Manhattan Democrat would want to ease the tax burden on his own constituents by getting suburbanites to ante up for city services. Yet it's impossible to take Silver's statement at face value.
For one thing, he led the way in abolishing the commuter tax in 1999. For another, he hasn't lifted a finger to bring it back since. Thirdly, he's demanding that the Senate - dominated by suburban Republicans - pass the commuter tax first, which ain't going to happen.
He's up to something. Could it be he's zinging Mayor Bloomberg, who would dearly love the revenue from a commuter tax but is donating heavily to the Senate GOP in this election year? Or could it be Silver would rather see the Republicans keep the Senate, thus prolonging his reign as top Democrat in the Legislature? If so, his commuter tax proposal gave GOP candidates in Westchester and on Long Island a nice, fat pitch to swing at.
Similarly, we can only guess about his real reason for flying to Albany. He's piling up frequent-flier miles, but says he hasn't redeemed them for personal use.
The explanation offered by spokeswoman Sisa Moyo - that it's "the easiest and most efficient way he has found to travel" - doesn't fly either. When you count travel to and from the airport and time in the security line, going by plane takes an hour or more longer than either driving or taking the train.
And if he needs downtime to work and rest - without being hassled by the lobbyists who ride Amtrak - surely one of the many bodies on the Assembly payroll could drive him to Albany for less than the price of an airline ticket.
Assembly policy allows air travel "only when it's clearly in the Assembly's best interest" - a rule that Moyo says applies to staff and not lawmakers.
It's time for Silver to follow his own rule. It's time to call the master of indirection on his tiresome tricks. It's time to ground Air Sheldon.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
Sheldon Silver. He’d be the one who doesn’t think pedophiles are a problem, is that correct?
IIRC, yes.
He is pure slime.......
Thanks for the ping!
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