Originally Published: January 26, 2015
Good government group believes speaker Sheldon Silver no longer has the trust of the public to govern effectively
He should either resign or be removed
Given the serious and credible charges of corruption leveled against Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, the Citizens Union board of directors this afternoon held a special meeting and voted to urge the resignation or removal of Assemblyman Sheldon Silver as Speaker of the New York State Assembly.
Citizens Union takes this important step given its historic role as a watchdog against corruption and an organization committed to holding elected officials accountable to the sacred promise of serving the public interest and upholding the public trust placed in them. The serious allegations against Speaker Silver raise the deeply troubling prospect that he has broken that promise and violated that trust and therefore can no longer govern responsibly or effectively.
Whether Speaker Silver is ultimately convicted of the charges against him is a criminal matter that will be decided in court. What can be determined today, however, is that he is no longer fit to serve as the leader of the Assembly. The ethics charges against him are significant and severely compromise his ability to lead the chamber at the start of the new legislative session. New Yorkers need a leader who can represent the Assembly during the consideration and adoption of a state budget that is due in two months, which this year is full of new proposals for education and infrastructure spending. That the session will also address important issues like rent control underscores the need for an Assembly Speaker who is not under an ethical cloud resulting from charges related to real estate decisions he made that possibly benefited him personally. The Speaker’s attempt to delegate responsibility for negotiating for the Assembly to an unwieldy five-member committee demonstrates his own acknowledgement that he is unable to lead the Assembly at this difficult and important time.
Legislative leaders need to be held to a high ethical standard. Holding the post of Assembly Speaker is a privilege to be given only to those who are above and beyond reproach. This is sadly not the case today with Speaker Silver. The public can no longer trust that the Speaker will act only in the public interest and not in some combination that involves undisclosed personal gain of which he stands accused.
The abhorrent pay-to-play culture that Citizens Union has repeatedly sought to reform is exemplified by the charges against Speaker Silver. The misuse of public office for private financial benefit is at the heart of Albany’s culture of corruption, as has been demonstrated over and over again by the multiple indictments and convictions of members of the state legislature in recent years. Silver’s charges add him to a list of 32 who have either left office or face removal for criminal or ethical misconduct since 2000 according to Citizens Union’s corruption tracker.
New Yorkers need an overhaul of our ethics and campaign finance laws and a vigorous enforcement mechanism against those who violate the public trust. That will take time. Right now, we need to remove those elected officials who have lost the public’s trust. If the Speaker does not tender his resignation, the members of the Assembly should seek his removal, since Silver can no longer lead and govern effectively with unquestioned integrity. The cloud of corruption is not only on the Speaker, but will shadow the entire Assembly so long as he is its leader. The Speaker must go.