Even on his way to prison, Sheldon Silver’s still a political power | New York Post

Even on his way to prison, Sheldon Silver’s still a political power (NYP)

Silver’s power lingers most in his old district. There, both his wife and his longtime top aide, Judy Rapfogel (whose own hubby, William Rapfogel, served time for looting the charity he ran), joined party bosses Sunday in picking Alice Cancel as the Democratic candidate in the special election to replace Silver. Cancel actually praised the “wonderful things” Silver did for the district. Hello? The guy is a convicted felon. It all goes to show, as Manhattan GOP Chairwoman Adele Malpass said, “how deep corruption runs” in the district’s clubhouses. The district’s heavily Democratic, so Cancel’s odds of winning aren’t bad — though Yuh-Line Niou, shut out by the machine, may run on the Working Families line. Niou called the process, where bosses essentially choose the lawmaker, undemocratic. Yep — and that’s the least of it.