Analysis: As Albany turns, Speaker Silver thrives -WSJ.com
Today’s Sunday Wall Street Journal runs an story by AP Albany Bureau chief Michael Gormley discussing Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver‘s continued tenure now that he must contend with “an ambitious Gov. Andrew Cuomo who is closely allied with the state Senate’s Republican Majority.” The article includes coments by retiring Assembly Majoritiy Leader Ron Canestrari, Assemblymen Jeff Aubry and Keith Wright, Siena Coll pollster Steve Greenberg, and me.
“I came to see Speaker Silver as the sane center holding the conference together,” said Michael Benjamin, a former Bronx assemblyman and now a good-government advocate. “He has all the versatility of bamboo. I’ve read where bamboo survived Hiroshima. … Governors come and go. Shelly endures.”
I believe too many Albany insiders, seeking to curry favor with Gov. Cuomo, are saying that Speaker Silver’s days are numbered. I didn’t mind sharing my observations about Silver because I respect him a lot.
As I told AP, “I don’t know anyone in government with Silver’s institutional knowledge and memory.” Like bamboo, Shelly is strong when needed and flexible when conditions change.
I truly believe that Speaker Silver will remain the Democratic leader because he is loyal to his Members, the Assembly as an institution, and the bedrock principles of the Democratic party. In my opinion, Silver and the late, great and fabled US House of Representatives Speaker Tip O’Neill share the same qualities.
Read the full AP story via Analysis: As Albany turns, Speaker Silver thrives – WSJ.com.
