Shelly Silver, shadow governor

I think that Sheldon Silver is more of a shadow dictator than he is shadow governor. I have been saying for years that Silver is the most powerful politician in New York State. He needs to be defeated this year, in the Primary.

Shelly Silver, shadow governor

Much of Sheldon Silver’s life unfolded within five city blocks on the lower East Side. His first steps. His first day of school. His first jump shot.

He lives there still with his wife, in a simple fifth-floor apartment. Silver still patronizes the shops along Grand St., attends an Orthodox synagogue just two blocks west.

And yet the reach of the state’s deadpan Democratic Assembly speaker – some call him a “shadow governor” – extends the length of New York State, from Bridgehampton to Buffalo.

Passage of virtually all state legislation swings on his say-so: His thumbs-down squashed plans for a West Side stadium.

Now the 64-year-old politician holds the key to another of Mayor Bloomberg’s pet proposals: congestion pricing.

“Shelly is a very smart guy,” says ex-Assemblyman Steve Sanders, a close Silver friend. “Shelly is one of the shrewdest politicians I have ever met. Anyone who has underestimated Shelly Silver has done so to their disappointment.”

He generally does it all with a low profile, content with power over publicity.

“Leadership is about two things,” Silver says. “It’s about listening. It’s about understanding.”

Silver understands better than most.

The son of a Ludlow St. hardware store owner was a trial lawyer handling personal injury cases when elected to represent his lower East Side neighborhood in 1976.

It wasn’t until 1994 that he ascended to his spot as speaker. He has held the position ever since, one of the so-called “three men in a room” – with the governor and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno – who wield tremendous control over state legislation and development.

Silver’s critics complain he’s an old-school politician; too secretive, too comfortable with back-room deals, too intent on dispensing millions of dollars in goodies through projects dubbed “member items.”

“It would be nice to see that consensus built in the public view more, but his power does draw from the closed-room process,” says Dick Dadey, executive director of the watchdog Citizens Union.

Others blast him as imperious, and overly generous to constituents at the cost of others in the state.

Silver, say friends, couldn’t care less.

“He has thicker skin and broader shoulders than any politician I’ve ever known,” Sanders says. “He cannot be intimidated by being criticized in the press.”

In addition to pleasing the 107 Assembly Democrats, Silver tends carefully to his neighbors and their votes. His seat is contingent on reelection every two years, and he faces a rare Democratic primary challenge this fall.