Changing of the Guard
Every year, February 2is Groundhog Day, and just like the movie of the same name it seems we’ve seen this story before. A top elected official charged with corruption – Senate Democratic Leader Manfred Ohrenstein (1987), Assembly Speaker Mel Miller (1991), Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (2008), and now Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Whether the charges are filed by federal or state officials, they don’t always stick. Ohrenstein’s legal troubles ended in 1991; two years later Miller’s legal woes came to a close; and in May of last year Bruno was acquitted of federal corruption charges. In each case the courts ruled the politicians did nothing illegal.
Silver may be facing a five-count criminal complaint – not an indictment, it should be noted – by federal prosecutors, but his supporters remain resolute in defending the 38-year incumbent lawmaker.
Legal experts say Silver’s defense could be that there was no quid pro quo, meaning something for something in Latin. Silver’s legal team could claim Silver’s intentions were not what prosecutors claim they were. It’s a matter of interpretation and what the court believes.
Outside the Manhattan courtroom last month after his arraignment Silver said, “I am happy the issue is coming to be aired in a legal process. I’m confident that after a full hearing and a due process, I will be vindicated.”
You have to give Silver credit. He is standing up to the prosecution where others immediately folded like a house of cards. While he’s given up his post as speaker, Silver refuses to resign his Assembly seat even though he could earn more money in retirement than as a rank-and-file member of the 150-member house, as he was pre-1994.
Silver’s exit from Assembly leadership marks the end of a string of Jewish Assembly speakers. Spanning almost a half century, six of the past seven speakers were Jewish.
Assemblyman David Weprin, whose father, Saul, preceded Silver as Assembly speaker, told The Jewish Press that the ascendance of an African American – Carl Heastie – to the speakership is “another ceiling that has been broken.”
Weprin added, “We didn’t have an African-American [New York City] mayor until Mayor Dinkins was elected in 1989 and we haven’t had an African-American mayor since then. So I think it’s a ceiling that was important to be broken.”
Silver’s first ceremony as speaker in 1994 was to commemorate Tu B’Shevat at the Capitol, sponsored by the Capital Chabad in Albany. On Monday, February 2, Silver once again presided over the Tu B’Shevat commemoration as a final ceremonial act as speaker.
As for Jewish ceremonies at the Capitol such as commemorating the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s birthday, marking Tu B’Shevat, reading the megillah on Purim, and acknowledging Jewish historical events, Weprin predicts they will continue under Assembly Speaker Heastie’s leadership.
“We do have a number of Orthodox Jewish members so I think Carl will be accommodating to them,” Weprin said.
Silver resigned his post just days shy of 21 years as speaker and less than two weeks before his 71st birthday. Had he remained at the forefront of the Assembly until June 11, 2016, he would have been the longest-tenured Assembly speaker in history.
February is Black History Month. Heastie, a 47-year-old Bronx Democrat, has made history as the first black Assembly speaker. First elected to the Assembly in 2000, he is said to have an immense love for and enthusiasm for math. He earned a Bachelors of Science in applied mathematics and statistics, which he followed up with an MBA in finance from CUNY’s Baruch College.
Heastie says he will give up his teaching job at Monroe College in the Bronx as well as his chairmanship of the Bronx Democratic Committee and focus solely on his post as Assembly speaker.
