Sheldon Silver

Should Governor Paterson indeed move the Moynihan Station project under the control of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as he said he wants to do, at least two members of the State Assembly are poised to resist the action: Richard Gottfried, the district’s representative, and Richard Brodsky, the chairman of the committee that oversees public authorities.

“It’s a New York project; it ought to be run by a New York agency,” Mr. Brodsky said. “As a bi-state authority, they [the Port Authority] have been unresponsive, remote and immune to reform.”

Moving Moynihan from the state-controlled Empire State Development Corporation to the Port Authority would remove the Legislature from any direct control over the project, taking away its ability to pass laws about the plan or have approval power via the Public Authorities Control Board. (The PACB blocked the project from moving forward in a phased plan at the end of the Pataki administration.)  read more »

The executive director of the Working Families Party, Dan Cantor, showed support for Sheldon Silver in an interview with OpenLeft published today, calling attacks from the left on the incumbent Democrat “intellectually shallow and politically naive.”  read more »

Sheldon Silver is giving money to the Stonewall Democratic Club for the first time. In the past, the 32-year-incumbent and Orthodox Jew has not conspicuously supported the causes embraced by many gay activists in his district--or at least he didn't before bringing gay marriage legislation to a vote in the Assembly last June.

Silver paid $500 for a ticket to the May 15 annual fund-raiser for Stonewall, which is based in his district and considered one of the major Democratic clubs for the gay community. He is also expected to attend.

According to a search of campaign finance records, Silver has never given a contribution to the group before. Nor has he given to Lambda Independent Democrats.

The May 15 fund-raiser is the first major event the group has hosted since the Assembly passed the same-sex marriage bill last year. It's also in the run-up to the September primaries, which Silver is taking more seriously than usual as he faces two spirited challengers.  read more »

Inez Barron, wife of outspoken City Councilman Charles Barron, just kicked off her campaign for State Assembly, and, while vowing to be an independent voice for change, hasn’t ruled out seeking the support of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

“No I have not been in touch with Shelly Silver -- our campaign is a grassroots campaign,” she said.

When asked if that meant not seeking Silver’s support, Inez replied, “I didn’t say that.” So, would she? “I might.”  read more »

With all the talk about Sheldon Silver's efforts during the congestion pricing fight to keep his members happy, it's easy to overlook the fact that he's been quietly tending to his other constituents—the ones who will, barring a shock upset, vote to return him to his seat on the Lower East Side later this year.

A reader passed along this ad for Silver, which appeared in this week’s issue of Downtown Express.

A spokesman for Silver’s campaign said it was paid for by the campaign and ads like this have appeared throughout the past decade. (His campaign finances show he has run ads as early as February in any given year.)

Silver is facing two Democratic primary challengers this year, and may have inspired a billionaire mayor (and his top political aide) to look at the race anew.

Here's spokesman Jonathan Rosen's e-mailed explanation:  read more »

Michael Bloomberg is having another run at Albany lawmakers, but this time, he's taking a less direct approach.

At an event in midtown yesterday afternoon, Bloomberg said he was donating money to help Arnold Schwarzenegger’s effort to push nonpartisan redistricting in California and said he hoped the efforts out there would advance the issue here.

If California could do it, Bloomberg said, it might "shame" New York lawmakers into doing likewise.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke with Charlie Rose about the economic and political issues they're facing at the annual Card Luncheon, which is going on at the Four Seasons in midtown right now.

Bloomberg acknowledged the economy is tough, but said that because the cost of construction is coming down, "if you want to build a building, now is the time to do it."

Schwarzenegger thanked the mayor for donating money to push the governor's plan for redistricting in California.

Bloomberg said he'd like that to happen here, and that if legislators can't be convinced to do it, he could "maybe shame them into doing it."

Here are the priorities listed on this year's New York City Card, according to a release sent out by the mayor's office:  read more »

One of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's challengers in the Democratic primary this year, Luke Henry, released his tax information this morning and called on the 32-year incumbent to disclose more about his outside sources of income.

The other challenger in the race, Paul Newell, a community organizer, released his tax information last month.  read more »

Dan Squadron is trying to unseat fellow Democrat Marty Connor for state Senate, in the district that represents lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

But more interesting than the people on the ballot are how Demoratic power brokers are lining up in that fight. Schumer is supporting Squardon, his former aide, against Connor, who didn’t support Schumer in his 1998 primary for Senate.

But as the invitation for Connor’s May 8th fund-raiser at the Ritz Carlton shows, he's got a good chunk of the rest of the party establishment.  read more »

Just days before the deadline to get federal funding for congestion pricing, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine suddenly came out loudly in opposition to the plan.

This morning, WNYC's Soterios Johnson asked Corzine if he had discussed congestion pricing with Michael Bloomberg before that time, and what led him to vocally oppose it so shortly before the deadline.

"We had long discussions with many people in the administration," Corzine said. "And I with the mayor himself, and had no conceptual difference of view with regard to congestion pricing. In fact, New Jersey drivers today are paying that $8 price to come across the George Washington Bridge or come through the tunnels. We had, I thought, an agreement that there wouldn't be any increase in congestion pricing beyond the $8, or, it would be offset by what we were already paying.  read more »

At the mayor's appearance in Bay Ridge with John McCain, I saw Kevin Sheekey, the deputy mayor who recently went on NY1 to blast Sheldon Silver for not bringing congestion pricing to the Assembly floor for a vote.  read more »