Posted on 01/22/2015 10:14:20 AM PST by proxy_user
The speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, was arrested on federal corruption charges on Thursday and accused of using the power of his office for more than a decade to secure millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks and then covering up his schemes, according to court documents.
Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who has served as speaker for more than two decades, is accused of a range of corrupt dealings that capitalized on his official position. They include using his position to obtain corrupt payments misrepresented as referral fees from a law firm; funneling state research funds and other benefits to a doctor who in return referred asbestos claims to the law firm where the speaker worked; and secretly helping real estate developers win tax breaks.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
And to think that he is a good Democrat. Nancy Pelosi said that Republicans had a culture of corruption. Implication being that good Democrats are not corrupt and the Democrats are for the middle class and all that.........
I’m amazed at how quickly the Old Grey Lady put the word “Democrat” in their article.
It only took ‘til the start of the second paragraph.
nobody will be complaining about this.
sometimes something good happens just by random chance.
A Hillary supporter ?
Wow. Just read some of the NY Times-picked commentary at the article.
Why, this wrongly-accused hero from lower Manhattan was just fighting for the people to prevent the Republicans from lining the pockets of their wealthy cronies at the expense of the poor and downtrodden! Are we so hasty to forget the good things this man has done for the people? He’s being hauled before a kangaroo court on trumped-up charges for standing firm against the exploitation of the common folk of New York City!
New York City liberal democrats are straight-up Stalinists.
The Mike Madigan of New York, might be even more corrupt than him. He’s a real hemorrhoid of a guy.
Assembly rats are rallying to his defense.
All roads lead to Shelly
EXCERPT---the stench of scandal wafts over New York....a man whose non-profit received millions from taxpayers finds himself under criminal investigation for stealing millions.
And the connections reach to the top: to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver......under investigation is the husband of Silver's top aide----William Rapfogel, who was fired last week as executive director and CEO of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty which relies for a good chunk of its money on tax dollars, much of which has been provided by Silver and his allies via member items.
(Now in jail), Rapfogel is married to Silver’s chief of staff. Rapfogel allegedly engaged in a money-laundering scam in which the non-profit's funds were used to buy insurance policies from Century Coverage at inflated prices.....and allegedly kicked-back to the Rapfogels.
Now, Silver dispensing untraceable tax dollars to an agency run by your chief of staff’s husband would strike most people as a blatant conflict of interest. But not in Shelly Silver’s Albany. There it’s another day of business as usual. (NY POST REPORT 2014)
SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/all_roads_lead_to_shelly_vbv7P6J2Zmo26jP1dKF3tO
I remember O’Reilly saying something disparaging about this guy a few years back. (I don’t remember what)
I had never heard of him until that time.
.
The fact is mentioned twice in the article with no reason given.
There is a lot of speculation about this in the comments:
1. Silver had something on Cuomo, and would not go down by himself.
2. The investigation was getting a little too close to Cuomo’s activities.
3. Cuomo didn’t want to be seen taking down Silver, so he pretended to close the commission, but actually turned the information over to the Feds for action.
Thx. I doubt it’s number 3 but I would love to know more.
Cuomo turned nothing over to Bharat voluntarily. It was requested with promise of a public subpoena if withheld. I am in a state of shock that the US Atty for the Southern District would do this to a Democrat like Shelly with Holder still AG. I’ve read the charges and unless Shelly’s lawyers are miracle workers, he’s toast and this will spill over to Andrew because nothing happens at this level in Albany without the Governor knowing about it. It would be for the best to have the US Atty indict the whole legislature and executive. The state would run better with an entirely new cast of characters, at least for a year or so
Many people seem to believe that Cuomo’s refusal to cooperate with Bharat was a sham designed to fool the press. These NY politicians are such schemers that that’s the first thing that a lot of people think.
Best news of the day! Thought I’d never see it.
High Ho Silver .... away!
Shelly knows where the bodies are.
Shelly is 70 yo.
Shelly doesn’t want to do time.
Shelly’s gonna sing.
It would be convenient to move the NYS capital to Attica.
They say this is the guy who has singlehandedly kept the UFC fights out of New York because he fears head injuries, but actually it is over some union he is protecting.
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