BREAKING: Ex-New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, once one of state's premier powerbrokers, gets 12 years in prison.
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 3, 2016
The Lower East Side-based Sheldon Silver, who became "one of the state’s most powerful and feared politicians as speaker of the New York Assembly," received a 12-year prison sentence this afternoon for federal corruption crimes.
Said U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni, who also levied a $1.75 million fine on the 72-year-old Silver:
“I hope the sentence I am going to impose will serve as a general deterrent to others that other politicians will see that corruption is going to be dealt with severely. I hope that the sentence I’m going to impose on you will make the next politician hesitate just long enough before taking a bribe or a kickback, for his better angels to take over. Or if there are no better angels and for some people, there are not, then maybe his fear of living out his golden years in an orange jumpsuit will put him on the straight and narrow.”
Silver was convicted on Nov. 30 of charges that included honest services fraud, money laundering and extortion. Silver's attorney said that he will appeal the verdict and sentence.
Head to The Lo-Down for a full report and photos.
12 comments:
Yet he still gets his 70k yearly pension, since the powers that be in Albany refuse to enact a law stripping crooked politicos of 'em? How nice for him and all the rest of the trough-feeders.
Lock him up and throw away the key. Take away the pension.
His lawyer requested community service, with the Fortune Society. He can do all the community service he wants when he gets out.
Watching this evening The Call, on TimeWarner [channel 1], I was shocked by the number of people who called in and argued for community service. Not one day less than 12 years. His sentence and whatever they give to Skelos, should serve as a warning to the crooks who inhabit Albany in the guise of representing the people of their districts. It is always astonishing how many people respond--oh but not my representative!! They are all part of a corrupt system. If one needs any proof, just examine how often we get to throw out an incumbent. I know the argument that the ballot box is the great term-limits law--but not so--not so. It is extremely difficult to get rid of an incumbent. Term limit all of them. Pass a law if you are convicted of a crime done while serving in public office you loose your pension.
Hey Gojira,
Why should Silver be stripped of his pension? That's not a rhetorical question. You think he should be, I don't, and am really asking you why.
He did a crime he's going to prison for a dozen years for (one lawyer told me Silver will probably do seven tops but that's just his guess), yes, but not bad enough to come out of prison with no income. No one can live on Social Security alone.
I understand your anger but let's get real here. You can't leave the man destitute. Then again maybe he has money already but enough to live on for the rest of his life and to augment his Social Security? I'm guessing no.
I know a judge, prosecutor, present serving district attorney and a number of local cops who should in fact be facing the very same situation. It's all about time and money to go after these guys. Lucky enough I have the time and they'll end up providing the funds. All for the making of a better environment for all of us, that's why we sometimes need to sacrifice ourselves. It's all for the betterment of the whole :-)
@10:31 because in the normal world, if you get fired for cause, you lose your pension. I'd say that 12 years in prison for corruption is the equivalent of a termination for cause. Every other criminal would be left destitute. He should fare no better. If anything, he should fare far worse because of the enormity of his betrayals. I'm sure he's collected more than enough in bribes, kickbacks, and other ill gotten gains over the years that he'll be perfectly fine when he is released from jail with unprecedented speed when someone eventually looks out for their old buddy Shelly. Or if he is really destitute, fuck him. He can bag groceries or become a walmart greeter.
Anon. 10:31 - Seriously? For starters, let's get one thing straight, nowhere in my post did I specifically say that Silver should be stripped of his pension, that was Anon. 8:18 PM, so I'm not sure why you chose me to react to. But let's examine the facts, shall we? For MANY years Silver was getting mid-to-high six figures a year from Weitz & Luxenberg, as well as his $121,000 a year as Assembly speaker, a post he's held since 1994, which alone totals - let's see - $2,662,000 for 22 years. He is also still eligible for Social Security, as you mentioned, and given his legitimate salary, he'll get payments on the highest end of their scale, probably something like $2500 a month. Pretty much everyone *I* know could live on that, easy, and the fine he has to pay will probably come from his W & L ill-gotten gains, leaving him with lots of legal salary money left in the bank, which no one has said a word about going after.
I'd also like to point out that plenty of people who worked hard and long at honest jobs, and who didn't systematically rob and thieve and cheat and steal, get by on their Social Security; you make it sound like without his pension, Silver and his wife will be living on cat food and tap water. You are obviously okay with the massive moral and ethical lapses the man who was repeatedly elected to work for the people of New York, not his bottom line, regularly indulged in, but I am not. Perhaps you think you are being nonjudgmental and compassionate, but I say you are an enabler and excuser of illegal actions, which I find pretty pathetic.
The only way to clean up a festering boil is to lance it, much as the only way to clean up the corruption is Albany is to prosecute the worst offenders, throw them in jail, and hit them in the pocketbook, which is all they really seem to care about. Why should those of us who have kept our noses clean all our lives be forced to shell out our hard-earned dollars to keep a bunch of narcissistic crooks in comfort and ease, in the manner to which they have become accustomed thanks to their sticky fingers? Can you tell me?
PERFECT response, Gojira!!
That Sounds space looks just ripe for a nail salon; aren't there only two on that block?
Gojira, love your rebuttal. I'm going to scroll up and read again!
@chris flash and Anon. 10.58, thank you!
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