Originally Posted - June 25, 2006

return home

A few brave veterans.

As this legislative session expires, it is once again time to consider the impact of a few brave media veterans who have year after year taken on all-comers, no matter how powerful and influential, to make this a better safer State for all those who live here and come here to visit.

Most of the media will not even acknowledge some of our worst legislative scandals exist. They definitely will not recognize the impact exposure of long obstructed legislation by their competition, may play in getting that legislation finally voted on and passed after years hidden in obscurity.

The New York Sun article" How Mr. Silver Manages To Unite Post, Times, O'Reilly, Daily News" http://www.nysun.com/article/34956 is an example of glossing over and facilitating the corruption in our State Assembly. A reader would not understand why so many in the media have recently taken to condemning Assembly Speaker Silver's actions this legislative session.

Ken Lovett of the NY Post wrote May 16th in his article SEX-RAP STATUTE FREES 332 FIENDS http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/68592.htm

Silver is paid an undisclosed amount for working for one of the nation's biggest trial-lawyer firms, Weitz & Luxemburg.

"Shelly Silver has done plenty for trial lawyers, he should take his trial-lawyer provision out of this bill and let us protect the women and children of this state from sexual offenders," Pataki said.

The NY Post article of May 17th SILVER'S SHAME http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/68676.htm starts "How many sex criminals are walking the streets because Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Weitz & Luxenberg) cares more about his law firm than he does about crime victims?" And continues.

And the trial-lawyer lobby has no better friend in Albany than Sheldon Silver.

Not for ideological reasons, either.

Since 2002, Silver has been "of counsel" to Weitz & Luxenberg, arguably New York's biggest personal injury law firm. It pays him a salary estimated by those in the know at $1 million a year - or more.

Unfortunately, estimates are all that's available. Silver won't say how much he earns, in fact, he won't release his tax returns. He won't say why he was hired, nor what exactly he does for the firm.

But it's pretty obvious just what Weitz & Luxenberg - and every other tort-law firm - has gotten from Sheldon Silver.

He opposes tort reform in Albany. And that's all it takes to kill reform.

Thus, the firm benefits directly from Sheldon Silver's actions.

It's an appalling conflict of interest.

The North Country Gazette, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Ithaca Journal, Long Island Herald, have also earned 'on target ' status and many of the articles that have earned these papers such recognition these past few weeks can be accessed through the North Country Gazette links below, courtesy of Gazette publisher June Maxam. Google Maxam v. Sheriff Larry Cleveland (Ethan Allen, Lake George) to appreciate her record of fighting to expose corruption.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/061406FewDareSee.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/062006BlindEye.html

Read these links and you will appreciate how articles such as Mr. Gershman's New York Sun article facilitate corruption and scandal in our State Assembly. Such journalists are as guilty of facilitating corruption as the Assembly members who year after year re-elect Sheldon Silver to the power of Speaker, knowing he will obstruct these laws as he has every year they have given him the power to do so.

Paul Vandenburgh of the Morning Show and Fred Dicker Live from the State Capitol, both from AM590 WROW, have weighted in with me on Speaker Silver's behavior and which constituency he may be serving since at least 1999. Fred Dicker and Ken Lovett both of the NY Post have never shied away from writing articles, back in the lonely days when few others dared.

Ed Martin, Al Roney and Joe Pagliarulo of 810 WGY have weighted in more recently. These five men are the veteran voices the legislators in the Capital District, their staffers and families hear.

Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity of FOX News came on board in the past 12 months, Bill O'Reilly in particular introduced the nation to Speaker Silver in the wake of the Jessica Lundsford abduction, rape and murder, once his research staff verified Silver's history of obstructing such legislation.

Speaker Silver has managed to hold out for a watered down version of Jessica's law that does away with the mandatory minimum 25 year to life sentence and won a 10-25 to life so there is room for trial attorneys to run up defense bills fighting for a less than 25-year sentence.

Lars Larson is a host on 150+ stations nation wide including WBIX Utica, WHCU Ithaca and WROW Albany on weekends, He takes my calls every First Amendment Friday allowing me to update listeners in the Western and Central part of New York state, on events in Albany.

So many pay so much attention to the relatively trivial antics of Ada Smith, Cynthia Mc Kinney, William Jefferson, and Randy 'Duke' Cunningham. Yet how do they compare for innocents betrayed and exploited, against the victims created because NY criminals were loose and preying in the streets as opposed to still locked up in prison?

Some may argue it is just coincidence so much of the media is suddenly paying attention to Speaker Silver of late and writing about him. But the new media is taking the lead and helping make him an issue. Having their constituents hold his facilitators responsible for ignoring his corruption to elect him the powers of Speaker is the solution to this problem.

Those who struggled for tougher, better laws need to step forward and claim the recognition they are due. The media that ignored and/or facilitated Assembly corruption have their reasons to never recognize any of the heroes of this struggle. As with many feminists who never protested Silver in any public way before this year, our crusading "white collar crime" busting Attorney General who has yet to act more than a month after the NY Post articles on Sheldon Silver's conflict of interests. Many proponents of the public interests turn a blind eye and thus facilitate the corruption.

Those with the strength and character to resist this corruption are sorely needed in the positions held by those entrusted to form public policy and shape public opinion who are no longer strong enough to stand for our most vulnerable against our worst predators, in the face of temptation to sell out.

God bless all of you who were strong despite the temptations, the lack of recognition and the pressures to turn away. We finally made the progress we did this year to make NY a safer better State because so many of you were not weak. 6-25-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette