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Sheldon Silver, Assembly Speaker Jailed for Corruption, Dies at 77

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Sheldon Silver, who as Speaker of the State Assembly for 21 years was a major force in Albany but was forced from office and eventually imprisoned for receiving $3.8 million in questionable payments for using his influence, died Jan. 24 at 77 in the Nashoba Valley Medical Center, not far from the Devens Federal Medical Center where he was serving a 6.5-year sentence.

Sometimes known as "The Sphinx" for the way he quietly exerted power, often waiting for Assembly Democrats to find a consensus on key issues before he weighed in, Mr. Silver was known for his strong advocacy in the rebuilding of lower Manhattan—which was part of his districtin the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center and damage done to the surrounding area by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Blocked Jets Stadium

He also was the key player in thwarting Mayor Michael Bloomberg's effort to build a new Stadium for the Jets on the West Side of Manhattan. He helped steer to passage the 2011 Same-Sex-Marriage bill championed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and promoted civil liberties while resisting legislation that would have toughened penalties for some crimes because he said they would have had a disparate impact on minority residents of the city and state.


A few of our stories and columns are now in front of the paywall. We at The Chief-Leader remain committed to independent reporting on labor and civil service. It's been our mission since 1897. You can have a hand in ensuring that our reporting remains relevant in the decades to come. Consider supporting The Chief, which you can do for as little as $2.25 a month.


Despite his reputation as a master political tactician, he stumbled into accepting a 1999 repeal of the commuter tax on those who lived in the suburbs and upstate while working in New York City. Mr. Silver, who found himself battling with both a Republican Governor, George Pataki, and Republican State Senate leader Joseph L. Bruno, hoped repeal of the tax would help Democrats win a Senate seat covering Rockland and Orange counties and give them a slender majority in that body as well.

The gambit failed, and the lost tax has cost the city more than $1 billion annually in revenue since then.

Soft on Sex Offenders?

Mr. Silver also came under fire for using his influence to try to shield sexual misconduct by two key allies from coming to light.

In 2001, his Counsel, Michael Boxley, was accused of sexual assault by Elizabeth Crothers, an aide to a Republican Assemblyman. She decided not to file a formal complaint with the Albany police after a female Detective described what she was likely to endure if the case went to trial, instead taking the matter to the Assembly, which she hoped would fire Mr. Boxley.

Mr. Silver handed the matter to the Counsel to the Democratic majority, William Collins, despite objections by Assembly Republicans that his previous close working relationship with Mr. Boxley made it unlikely he would be impartial in his handling of the case. Ultimately, no punitive action was taken against Mr. Silver's Counsel, but two years after that incident, another legislative aide went to the Albany Police Department and accused Mr. Boxley of raping her twice after driving her home from a bar.

He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of sexual misconduct and escaped jail time, though forced to relinquish his law license for more than a year. His victim sued the Assembly and Mr. Silver individually, charging that her own violation might have been avoided if, in the case involving Ms. Crothers, the Speaker had not injected himself into the investigative process in a way that favored Mr. Boxley. That case was settled out of court by Mr. Silver and the Assembly for $600,000 in 2006.

Became a Pattern

Six years later, after Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopezwho was also that borough's Democratic Chairmanwas accused by two aides of sexual harassment, Mr. Silver tried to broker a secret settlement with the help of Assembly Majority Counsel Collins, agreeing to give the women $135,000, $32,000 of which was paid by Mr. Lopez in June 2012.

A month after the deal was finalized, with a provision that would penalize the two women if they made the terms public, two other female staffers brought new allegations of sexual harassment against Mr. Lopez. Once again, Mr. Silver drew criticism for trying to keep the matter confidential and in-house.

But he continued to exert power, with no serious challenges to him as Speaker after a 2000 coup attempt failed and the man who sought to replace him suffered the political consequences. 

That changed when the U.S. Attorney's Office indicted him for corruption in early 2015, accusing him of using his influence to obtain $3.1 million in referral fees from a law firm that employed him, and another $700,000 from a childhood friend to whom he directed large developers who were seeking reductions in the taxes they were paying on their properties.

Mr. Silver was convicted at the end of that year, but won a new trial after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving a former Governor of Virginia tightened the standard needed to prove public corruption.

Second Time No Charm

He went on trial again in 2018. Most of of the money Federal prosecutors said he received improperly for using the power of his office stemmed from referrals of mesothelioma cases to Weitz & Luxenberg, where he was "of counsel," by Dr. Robert Taub, who specialized in treating those with the disease. Those referrals began after Mr. Silver ensured that $500,000 in Assembly funds was provided to Dr. Taub to support his research at Columbia University; the $3.1 million he received was his portion of the large settlements the firm was able to secure from the mesothelioma patients whose cases it had brought.

During both trials, Mr. Silver's defense had been that, however unappetizing this arrangement might appear to the public, it was standard legislative practice, and proof could be seen in his having reported the income on his annual state disclosure forms.

He had not declared, however, the $700,000 in referral fees he received from Jay Arthur Goldberg, a specialist in reducing city tax assessments on developers, who had grown up with Mr. Silver on the Lower East Side.

Mr. Goldberg testified against the former Speaker in return for immunity from prosecution for making the kickbacks over an extended period. The tax specialist testified that he had always given finders' fees to those who referred business to him, but because in this instance the work was for two major developers who had business before the Assembly, he asked his childhood friend whether paying him such fees was legal.

He said Mr. Silver's response had been, "Of course. I'm a lawyer."  

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