Skelos Clung to Power On the Ledge of Denial

Ultimately, it may not comfort Dean Skelos much that he lasted longer as head of the State Senate after being served with Federal corruption charges than the five days Shelly Silver continued to serve as Assembly Speaker before his Democratic colleagues decided in late January that his own indictment made him too great a liability to continue as their leader.

Even after Republican State Senators rallied around Mr. Skelos to head off Democratic Senators’ May 6 attempt—two days after he became the latest state official hauled into U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan by Preet Bharara—to call a vote on his continuing as Majority Leader, it was clear that it would be just a matter of time before he, too, would be forced to step down. He lasted a full week, until May 11.