Silver Wants Corruption Conviction Tossed
Sheldon Silver’s lawyers want his corruption conviction tossed (NYP) Lawyers for Sheldon Silver have 12 minutes on Thursday to argue before a three-judge appeals panel that the disgraced ex-Assembly Speaker’s conviction should be tossed — or that he be granted a new trial. The appeal lawyers think Silver deserves another shot because, they argue, the definition of public corruption has changed since he was found guilty in November 2015. They plan to cite the US Supreme Court’s move in June to toss the public corruption conviction of ex-Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell, who accepted more than $165,000 in loans and gifts from a business executive in exchange for promoting a dietary supplement because there was no proof the McDonnell took the Ferraris, Rolexes and ball gowns in exchange for an “official act” like legislation. The government’s case against Silver also included allegations of corruption that might now be deemed innocent, such as help he provided a co-conspirator’s daughter to land a job interview, Silver’s lawyer Steven Molo said in court filings.* Sheldon Silver Appeal Looks to New Definition of Corruption (NYT)
Silver's Court Where He Picks the Judges, Still Protects Silver's Doctor and Asbestos Racket
Sheldon Silver’s doctor pal wins round in battle against Columbia (NYP) The doctor at the center of the corruption case that toppled former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver won a round in his lawsuit against Columbia University over his firing after more than 35 years on the job. In three just-released decisions, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Manuel Mendez reinforced a July court order that protects Dr. Robert Taub by barring Columbia from interfering with his “salary, work, research and staff” until the school goes through the proper motions of terminating him. Mendez also sided with Taub in his motion to hold Columbia in civil contempt for violating the judge’s order by trying to slash Taub’s salary from $300,000 to $105,871 and firing his staff.
Senate GOP Candidates Use Corrupt Silver Ignore Corrupt Skelos Power Broker Klein
Disgraced Silver being used in campaign ads (NYDN) One TV ad paid for by New Yorkers For Independent Action, a Super PAC targeting candidates who oppose the creation of an education investment tax credit, attacks incumbent Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D-Saratoga County) for her ties to Silver. The ads, which hits Woerner for backing Silver as speaker, concludes with pictures of the assemblywoman and Silver and the tagline: “It’s hard to stand up for us when she’s standing with them.” Meanwhile, Assemblyman James Tedisco, a Schenectady Republican running for state Senate, has an ad highlighting a public argument he had with Silver over taxes. The ad notes that Silver is gone but Tedisco is still fighting for constituents. * Depending on the outcome of the elections in November, IDC Leader Jeff Klein could become the Senate’s ultimate power broker, especially as his independent caucus grows to an expected six members, the Buffalo News writes.
Silver Avoids Jail . . . Did Anyone Expect Him to Be Lock Up?
But Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni, who presided over Silver’s trial, instead granted the Manhattan Democrat’s request that he remain free on bail.*
Silver Thinks Skelos McDonnell Will Keep Him Out of Jail Also
Silver's Gerrymandering Jealousy Cuts A Romantic Rival Out of His District Silver and Skelos Replacement Special Elections
Silver Blocked A Bill to Protect Sexually Abused Kids After Catholic Group Hired Lobbyists the Speaker Was Sleeping With
Just Like Ever One Knows About Corruption in Albany Everyone Knew About Silver's Affairs for Years
The affairs were poorly-kept secrets, Albany
insiders said. Lynch and Silver were seen kissing in an elevator at the
2008 Democratic Convention in LA. Another legislative source said
Silver and Hyer-Spencer had adjoining rooms during a 2008 Assembly trip
to Israel. This, even though other lawmakers were also staying in the same hotel. Silver
and Hyer-Spencer were also seen together in the hotel lobby at the
Somos Uno conference during one of the Assembly’s annual post-election
trips to Puerto Rico.
Silver Slept With A Lobbyists and Another Woman
Lobbyist having affair w Shelly tells him, on client matter: "I don't talk to anybody about the issue except you."
The @NYDailyNews, citing an anonymous source, says Sheldon Silver was having an affair with lobbyist Patricia Lynch.
Sheldon Silver cheated on his wife with two women
(NYP) While serving as Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver was engaged in
extramarital affairs with two women – one of whom lobbied him on behalf
of clients who had business before the state and the other for whom he
used his position to recommend a state job, according to new documents
from his criminal case. The revelation was included in the documents,
which were unsealed Friday morning. The documents redacted the names of
the two women, as well as other information about. Prosecutors had
wanted to introduce the evidence during Silver’s corruption trial last
year. At the heart of the secret files is a mysterious “Sealed Party A” –
an unidentified woman whose name was never mentioned at Silver’s trial.
But her high-powered attorney Abbe Lowell has been fighting tooth and
nail to stop the documents from going public. Judge Valerie Caproni said
the filings – which pertain to a hearing last October about evidence
that wasn’t presented at trial – add to Silver’s already tarnished
reputation as ex-Assembly speaker. She alluded that the secret documents
are related to “misuses of [Silver’s] public office.” “This is not one
of his better moments,” Caproni said in court. The judge also noted that
Lowell’s
client was a public figure — and for that reason, there was a public
interest in the matter.In filings, prosecutors insisted the information
goes to Silver’s “ethics or integrity, separation of his personal
business from his official position, and/or character for truthfulness
and honesty.” “The Government did not seek to admit evidence of those
relationships at trial on its direct case, but asserted that such
evidence would be relevant and admissible if the defendant introduced
character evidence suggesting that he was careful to separate his
personal business from official business or that he was a man of
integrity or a good family man,” one of the filings states. Documents
allege there is “credible and corroborated evidence that while serving
as Speaker of the Assembly, the defendant engaged in extramarital
relationships with two women.” In one instance, the information was
gained “inadvertent” by investigators who were listening to Silver’s
phone calls. Silver’s relationship with the lobbyist “regularly lobbied
the defendant on behalf of clients who had business before the state”
the document states while she was able to “obtained certain clients in
part because of her access to the defendant.” In one of the recordings
with the lobbyist, Silver and the woman discuss an inquiry from a
reporter about “affairs” with state legislators. “I don’t think he
caught us,” Silver is alleged to have said in the conversation. Silver
acknowledges to the woman that it is “not safe” they be seen together in
public. In the record conversation, the lobbyist complained to Silver
that she was not being treated well by a top member of Silver’s staff.
The second woman, meanwhile, was the beneficiary of a state job that
Silver “used his official position” to secure for her. The unnamed post
was one Silver “exercised a particularly high level of control.” Silver
kept two different cell phones, one that appeared to be for official use
and a second that he used for personal discussions and was billed to a
different name.Flashback ‘Silver’-spoon gal climbing the ladder
(NYP) A former state assemblywoman and close ally of Speaker Sheldon
Silver has quietly left her cushy job at the state Education Department
for an even higher-paying one in state Family Court. Janele
Hyer-Spencer, a motorcycle-riding former beauty queen, left her post as a
legislative liaison for the Education Department on Jan. 29.
Hyer-Spencer, a Democrat, was hired in September 2011 — after voters had
booted her from her Assembly seat. As The Post reported last year,
Silver — who has sway with the Board of Regents, which oversees the
education agency — recommended Hyer-Spencer for he $84,000-a-year
position. In March, Hyer-Spencer quietly took a new job as a “support”
magistrate with the New York City Family Court. She’s now making $99,600
to work on child- support, paternity and other family issues, state
payroll records show. Silver’s childhood friend Jonathan Lippman is
chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals and oversees administration
of the state courts.Skelos Judge denies new trial for disgraced former Majority LeaderDean Skelos. * New YorkEthics Rules Quiet on Lawmaker-Lobbyist Relationships (WSJ) * U.S. Cites Extramarital Affairs as Misuse of Power in Sheldon Silver Case
(NYT) Two women were connected to Mr. Silver’s position as State
Assembly speaker, according to newly unsealed papers from his federal
corruption trial.
@hudsonette @darehgregorian it appears that lobbyists not only raise $ 4 pols but provide other services
Feds Push for 15 Years for Skelos While Albany Blocks Ethics Bill
NYT Tries to Make It OK Not To Send A Message to Corrupt Albany by Sending Skelos to Jail Prosecutors
want former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to be sentenced to
12 to 15 years in prison for his conviction on federal corruption
charges, and his son to see about 10 to 12 years in prison
Does it make sense for Adam and Dean Skelos to ask for noprison time? Opinions are mixed. (NYT)
Prosecutors are likely to seek stiff prison sentences for Dean G.
Skelos, the former majority leader of the New York State Senate, and his
son, Adam, who were both convicted on corruption charges.* Lawyers for
former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam
Skelos, asked that they avoid prison time, but that could backfire in a
corruption case in which both were convicted on all counts,The New York Times reports: * Experts say the
requests by former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son,
Adam, for no jail time resulting from their corruption convictions could
run the risk of backfiring by being interpreted as essentially thumbing
their noses at the judge and jury. * Feds push for Skelos and son to spend over a decade in jail (NYP) NO ETHICS New York’s leaders are still failing on ethics reform (NYP
Ed) Cuomo and the Legislature’s leaders are oh so proud of their
just-passed state budget — yet there’s not a word in it about ethics
reform.
Albany corruption mapped: * This,
as former legislative leaders Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos await
sentencing after their landmark convictions for abuse of their offices.
And after countless other lawmakers have headed off to prison in recent
years. And after the Legislature failed to deliver on its No. 1 reform
promise last year — to get the ball rolling on amending the state
Constitution to strip pensions from legislator-felons like Silver and
Skelos. Now comes a new Quinnipiac Poll showing that 86 percent of New
Yorkers say corruption in Albany is a serious problem. So serious, in fact, that 48 percent said all current
elected officials should be voted out of office so new officials can
start with a clean slate. And 48 percent also see Cuomo as “part of the
problem.”* Bharara recommends up to 15 years for Skelos (PoliticoNY) The memo was a rebuke of the defense’s argument that the duo should avoid prison time * Federal prosecutors asked a judge to
sentence former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to at least 12
years in prison, following his conviction on eight counts of public
corruption charges, and asked that Skelos’ son, Adam, be sentenced to
more than 10 years.* Prosecutors:Dean Skelos' $95k pension should draw big fine (LoHud) Silver he sentencing for former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been postponed again. According to court documents, it’s now scheduled to take place on May 12th, moved from April 13.
Longtime aide insists Sheldon Silver ‘cared for all New Yorkers’ (NYP) Sheldon Silver’s longtime chief of staff has gone to bat for her old boss, vouching that the convicted former Assembly speaker “always cared for and worked to help all New Yorkers,” new court filings show. Judith Rapfogel — whose crooked hubby William Rapfogel is
currently in prison for bilking $9 million from the non-profit he ran —
begged Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni for mercy at Silver’s
sentencing in a two-page letter filed Tuesday.“I could write volumes
about the good work Shelly did for the people of the state of New York,”
Rapfogel wrote, even playing the 9/11 card. “We let people use our
phones so they could call their loved ones,” she wrote. “Shelly also
worked hard for minorities. He did what he felt was right, even if it
went against his religious beliefs and even if it meant he would have to
‘answer’ to friends and family.”
Silver Disbarred and Skelos Delayed Until After the Special to Replace Him
On the Day He is To Be Put in Jail for the Rest of His Life the NYP Writes How is Woman Tried to Grab His Penis At A Ranger Game
Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will be sentenced today in a corruption case that brought to light his extramarital affairs with two women – a former staffer-turned-lobbyist and a former assemblywoman – details of which are still emerging.
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Silver 5 Months After Being Convicted Still Driving Around With Govt Parking Placard That Allows Him to Park Anywhere
Sheldon Silver still enjoying politician perks (NYP) Five months after he was expelled from the Assembly for his corruption conviction, Sheldon Silver is still driving a car with government parking placards. A permit indicating that “this vehicle is on official business” was displayed in the windshield of a Toyota Camry seen parked near the ex-speaker’s Grand Street home in February. Silver was spotted getting into the car Friday, but dashed back into his co-op building when a photographer tried to snap a picture. Such state placards allow their holders to park just about anywhere for free. Silver’s longtime chief of staff, Judith Rapfogel, has the same Assembly permit in her Toyota Avalon. It was seen displayed in the windshield on April 9. On Friday, it was there again, but turned over. The car had a ticket on it. Rapfogel left the Assembly in January. A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said that Heastie was “unaware” Silver and Rapfogel still had parking placards and that he would ask for them back.
The Lobbyist Who Silver Was Sleeping With Business Fell Apart After Silver's Arrest
Judge Caproni Silver's Sex and Corruption Matter in Sentencing
Silver Trial Secret Evidence May Soon Be Unsealed by the Judge
Judge Plans to Unseal Secret Papers in Sheldon Silver’sCase(NYT) From the tidbits of information gleaned at a hearing on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, it appeared that prosecutors had argued last fall — in a closed hearing and in sealed court papers — to be able to use certain evidence against Mr. Silver at trial. His lawyers appear to have vigorously objected and the matter ultimately did not surface at trial. Federal prosecutors showed at trial that he had obtained nearly $4 million in illicit fees in return for taking official actions that benefited a Columbia University cancer researcher and two real estate developers in New York . The judge, Valerie E. Caproni, had indicated that she would revisit the issue of the secret information after the trial was over, and more recently asked the parties to file motions on the issue. The sealed materials appear to include documents and a transcript of a pretrial hearing that was held on the issue. In court on Thursday, Judge Caproni first held a public session limited to legal arguments, and indicated she favored the release of the materials, with redactions to protect the identities of people who are mentioned in the documents but are not parties to the case.
Silver Still Gets His Pension As His Top Aide Finally Loses Her Job
Sheldon Silver’s former top aide is out of her $180,000-a-year taxpayer funded job( NYDN) A former top aide to disgraced ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is out of her $180,000-a-year taxpayer funded job, the Daily News has learned. Judy Rapfogel left the payroll as of Jan. 13, officials said. A Silver employee since 1976, it was not clear Sunday whether she put in papers for a pension some say may hit six figures. * The state’s Constitution must be amended so that state politicians convicted of corruption, like Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos, can’t continue to receive state pensions, Assemblyman David Buchwald writes in the Times:* Assemblyman David Bouchwald OpEds about the need for a pension forfeiture measure to be passed in the Legislature after a deal on the issue was supposedly done last year. * Skeloses ask judge to toss out corruption convictions (NYP)* Attorneys for Sheldon Silver, the convicted former New York state Assembly speaker, filed motions for acquittal and for a new trial, saying the government failed to prove certain charges and, alternately, that “no rational juror could find the charges proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”* Convicted of Corruption, but Still Getting a Pension (NYT) * Dean Skelos and His Son, Convicted on Corruption Charges, Seek New Trial(NYT) * Convicted of Corruption, but Still Getting a Pension (NYT)Shouldn’t Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos have to give up their perks after being convicted of corruption?
The NYT Says Silver Has Always Been A Supporter of NYC, Forgot How He Killed the Commuter Tax
Not always... in 1999, silver and joe bruno (indicted but beat the rap on a technicality) Dean Skelos (under indictment) and Pataki conspired to eliminate the commuter tax because both parties were contesting a legislative seat in Rockland County New York city more than $5 billion. Rudy slammed the bill and GOP senator Roy Goodman said it was the most foolish decision he had ever seen. By the way, the tax for the mainly white commuters was about a buck a day.-Jim Callaghan * Commuter tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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NYP Editorial Editor Threaten By Silver After 1999 Story Against Repeal of the Commuter Tax
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NYP Editorial Editor Threaten By Silver After 1999 Story Against Repeal of the Commuter Tax
The theory behind the tax was and is sound: These commuters made extensive use of the city’s public conveyances and systems, not to mention the protection of the NYPD and the FDNY, as they spent 250 working days within its borders and should help pay for their upkeep. That said, any politician philosophically opposed to such taxation would also have had a sound case opposing it on the grounds that it was, in effect, a user tax no other New York state resident had to pay (not to mention commuters from New Jersey and Connecticut, who had also been subject to it). But this was not why Silver suddenly pushed through an end to the commuter tax in May 1999. He did so because he was trying to secure victory for a Democrat in a special election in Rockland County
The Political Culture of Albany is Guilty . . . Where Have All the Reform Gone . . .
Lost Reformers Who Empowered Silver Just As Guilty As Their Dear Leader
Sheldon Silver’saccomplices: What the former speaker's guilty verdict reveals about the cultureof New York's Capitol (NYDN) U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, his assistants and the FBI did a high service in revealing which species of crimes Silver was committing — at a time when everyone in Albany knew to a moral certainty that the speaker was betraying the public trust and rigging the game to hide his predations. Still, justice is incomplete. There is sadness in that the letters of the law prohibit naming virtually the entire Assembly Democratic caucus as co-conspirators to Silver’s corruption. They enabled him by vesting Silver with their proxies to do essentially whatever he wanted when the Legislature was in session. Assembly members didn’t have to work. They didn’t have to think. They only had to do as they were told in the name of their caucus, including faithfully voting on bills they had never read. Under Silver’s leadership, the Legislature was rated
Not One of the Assemblywoman or Anyone Spoke Up Against the Silver Lopez Hush Fund
Two former Assembly staffers who claimed former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver didn’t take their sexual harassment claims seriously enough said they finally feel justice has been served,
Even after Bharara persuasively declared in the complaint that the charges “go to the very core of what ails Albany ,” including a “lack of transparency, lack of accountability and lack of principle, joined with an overabundance of greed, cronyism and self-dealing,” it took a public outcry to force Silver’s ouster after almost a week. Manhattan underboss Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who has spent four conscience-withering decades in the Assembly, went so far as to describe Silver as a hero. Consigliere Assemblywoman Deborah Glick proclaimed that Silver has been “upholding Democratic principles in this state.” Better for them, Silver rewarded members who knelt to him with money for their districts. That became the yardstick for success, not the drafting or passage of important legislation. As long as they got their funds, they were happy to have Silver as dictator. Even as he protected sex-harasser Vito Lopez and covered up ethics investigations. New York way and so had committed no crimes.
Yes, indeed, Silver had done business the New York way. Yes, indeed, he had exploited a system he created, a system blessed and defended by Gottfried and Glick, and by Silver’s successor as speaker, Carl Heastie, and by every other pliant member of the Assembly. They enabled him. They aided and abetted him. And, they, too, are guilty.* Silver leaves a complicated legacy marked by his liberal priorities and a talent for legislating but also suspicions in Albany that he suppressed potential scandals, such as sexual harassment allegations, * The whole political culture of Albany is guilty in the Silver case, Newsday writes, as the Legislature refuses to take steps like banning outside income, trying public campaign financing and entertaining term limits:the Journal reports:
Silver Gets His Pension
Silver may be headed to prison, but he will still collect a hefty state pension. The former assemblyman is enrolled in the most generous pension tier system, and should collect $90,750 a year – more than most New Yorkers make in the private sector.*'He abused public trust, but he expects the public to continue to pay him': The decision to allow Sheldon Silver to get state pension enrages pols (NYDN)
Silver Staff Going Going Gone
Silver’s eight remaining staffers — including Chief of Staff Judith Rapfogel — have been given their six-week notices, officials said.*Ex-staffers see justice in Sheldon Silver's conviction
The Election Law Which Silver Made Allows Him to Use His Campaign Finances to Pay Legal Fees
Will Bharara Takes His Pension Away 90,000?
Silver allowed to use campaign finances to pay legal fees (NYP) There’s one bank account that Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara can’t get his asset-freezing fingers on as he plans a likely multimillion-dollar restitution order against Sheldon Silver: the pol’s campaign war chest, which Silver can continue to use to pay legal fees. Records show that the former Assembly speaker spent $1.5 million from his campaign account on lawyers in January and February and had $1.7 million left as of July. Crusaders for campaign reform say it’s galling that state election law allows even a convicted politician to use campaign cash to try to beat p * The A-Team of federal prosecutors puts away crooked polShelly Silver (NYDN Ed) * BARRETT: SILVER’S CAREER A TAPESTRY OF CORRUPTION (City and State) Party Leaders Pick? If Cuomo calls a special election on April 19 to fill the lower Manhattan seat vacated by former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver after 40 years, party leaders – not voters – will decide who gets to run.* Records show that the former Assembly speaker spent $1.5 million from his campaign account on lawyers in January and February and had $1.7 million left as of July. There is nothing to prevent him from using the rest of that political cash for his legal fees.* Sheldon Silver files for his pension * After losing his seat when he was convicted of seven federalfelonies, #SheldonSilver has filed for his pension *Dem Leader @AndreaSCousins: Push for Reform in Albany Like ‘Groundhog Day’—Even Post-#SheldonSilver *BDB USES RE INSIDERS TO SELL RE-FRIENDLY HOUSING PLANS,SURPRISED BY REJECTION (ethicsaintpretty)* * Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was forced from office after being found guilty on federal corruption charges, filed his retirement papers one day after the verdict was reached by a jury, State of Politics reports: * Sheldon Silver seeks his pension but federal prosecutors mayseek to have it forfeited. (NYT) * Sheldon Silver, Found Guilty, Moves to Collect State Pension (NYT)* Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver filed for his pension one day after a jury found him guilty on seven counts of corruption. After 44 years of government service, he is eligible to collect about $90,000 a year despite his conviction.
The NYT Is Still Arguing Silver Lawyers Case Daily
Thursday
Silver’s central argument for an appeal of his conviction seems likely to be that the government failed to prove a quid-pro-quo relationship existed between Silver and others who prosecutors said benefited from official actions he took on their behalf, The New York Times reports: * When they appeal his conviction on seven federal corruption charges, Silver’s attorneys are likely to argue that the government failed to prove that a quid-pro-quo relationship existed between the former assemblyman and others who prosecutors said benefited from official actions he took on their behalf.
Wednesday The Questionable Ways of Albany,Exposed at Sheldon Silver’s Trial (NYT) The former speaker did not disclose Goldberg & Iryami on his annual disclosure form. Rather, for years he disclosed the income he received from another firm that he was associated with, Weitz & Luxenberg, and often added “law practice — fees,” or some variation of that. Mr. Silver’s lawyers argued that their client’s use of the words “law practice” made his disclosure forms accurate because Goldberg & Iryami had made its payments to Mr. Silver through his law practice account. Lisa Reid, the executive director and counsel for the Legislative Ethics Commission of New York , an agency that reviewed Mr. Silver’s annual disclosure forms, seemed to agree in her testimony. “Presuming that the income is coming from your clients and it is going into the law practice, yes, you would only need to list the income as coming from your law practice, correct,” Ms. Reid testified. Mr. Silver’s lawyers argued that their client’s use of the words “law practice” made his disclosure forms accurate because Goldberg & Iryami had made its payments to Mr. Silver through his law practice account. Lisa Reid, the executive director and counsel for the Legislative Ethics Commission of New York , an agency that reviewed Mr. Silver’s annual disclosure forms, seemed to agree in her testimony. “Presuming that the income is coming from your clients and it is going into the law practice, yes, you would only need to list the income as coming from your law practice, correct,” Ms. Reid testified. * During the one-month trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan , Silver’s political career was not the only thing to fall apart. So, too, did the curtain around how many things in Albany really get done.** Silver and his defense team will face an uphill battle inhis appeal, as legal experts who spoke with Politico New York say that the prosecution and the judge were on solid ground in their handling of the case: *Successful appeal unlikely for #SheldonSilver, experts say:
NYT Dreams Of A Silver Return to Albany At 125 Years Old?
NYT Dreams Of A Silver Return to Albany At 125 Years Old?
But Says Nothing About the Effects On Albany of the Corruption Exposed At Silver's Trial
Colleagues Ponder Sheldon Silver’s Role in Albanyif He Is Acquitted (NYT) If Mr. Silver were to be acquitted, however, he could return to Albany
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