The end of the road for Sheldon Silver. Source: Shutterstock
The conviction of Sheldon Silver on multiple bribery-related charges is a step in the right direction, but broader institutional change is needed to clean up our political system.
The Old Dog Finally Goes Down
Silver, the former State Assembly speaker for New York, saw a political career that spanned across five decades come to a screeching halt on Monday night. The office of Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, secured Silver’s conviction on all seven charges presented against him. Whether this actually heralds a new era, unwilling to accept the “Business As Usual” motto long-embedded in Albany’s political climate, remains to be seen.
During his 21 years as Assembly speaker, Silver scrapped with governors and mayors, faced allegations of suspicious practices and dealt with rape accusations to key staffers – always emerging unscathed on the other side. These survival skills created an aura of invincibility around Silver, sending a clear warning signal to those who would consider crossing him.
“Three Men In a Room”
As one of New York’s “three men in a room,” Silver joined the state governor (Andrew Cuomo) and Senate majority leader (Dean Skelos, currently facing his own corruption charges) in controlling New York’s roughly $150 billion budget. Indeed, Silver once boasted of his influence on the state legislature, “Nothing happens without me.”
Outsized influence by any one individual on the political system is always a dangerous game to play, even moreso when said individual’s moral constitution is akin to that of a rat on a sinking ship. To wit, one of the schemes that led to Silver’s conviction was his shuttling of $500,000 worth of state grants to a doctor who then referred patients back to a law firm that paid Silver for undefined services. We now know what those services were.
Politics and Corruption: What’s the Difference?
The lines between governance, patronage and corruption have become so inextricably blurred that the inability to distinguish one from another actually formed the bedrock of Silver’s defense. During the trial, one of Silver’s attorneys explained to the jury that the politician’s behavior was “conduct which is legal, conduct which is normal, conduct which allows government to function consistent with the way that our founding fathers of the state of New York wanted it to function…”
Before scoffing at the arrogance of this thousand-dollar-per-hour babbling bobblehead, know that this asinine revisionist history actually succeeded in confusing a member of the jury. On Tuesday, November 24, the judge received a note written by a juror asking to be removed from the trial as he or she was “having difficulty distinguishing whether or not exchanging New York State funds for something in return is illegal.” It’s easier to understand the juror’s confusion in the context of the evaporation of morality within America’s political system at large.
This isn’t even to mention the fact that Bharara’s office will have to take Silver back to court should it seek to rid New Yorkers of the albatross that is the annual pension Silver is still legally allowed to collect. If Bharara fails in this goal (which he claims he will pursue), Silver will join other convicted New York politicians like Carl Kruger and Alan Hevesi, who are still receiving annual payments of $58,011 and $126,134 respectively. Good times in the Empire State.
Our Take
The conviction of one person, even a hugely powerful figure like Silver, won’t clean out decades of institutional rot unto itself, even if it’s at least a step in the right direction. Equally, Albany will not be magically rid of its dysfunctional culture should Skelos receive his own corruption conviction in the days ahead.
Instead, it might be worth noting that if two of the “three men in a room” are behind bars, could it mean that our political system shouldn’t be controlled by three men behind closed doors in the first place?
