New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (R–Canandaigua) said it is “imperative” that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver “step down immediately” following his arrest Thursday morning on corruptions charges.
“As I said in December when allegations surfaced … these are disturbing charges and the Speaker needed to provide a full explanation before the start of the 2015 session,” Kolb said in a statement emailed to media outlets Thursday morning.
Silver’s resignation as Speaker would be “in the best interest of the Assembly, of the state, and the best way for us to conduct the business that we are elected to do,” said Kolb.
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At the same time, Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle (D–Irondequoit) led a news conference in Albany on Thursday in which Assembly Democrats said they supported Silver, according to a report on the website of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.
In a statement his office released Thursday, Assemblyman Sam Roberts (D–Syracuse) calls the allegations against Silver “very serious,” but adds that he believes the legal process “must — and will — run its course.”
“However, we were just presented with a new budget proposal and a blueprint for the future of Central New York. We cannot let today’s events become a distraction to the critical work ahead,” said Roberts.
Another Republican lawmaker, in the other chamber of the New York Legislature, is joining those who believe Silver should resign his post.
New York State Senator Joseph Griffo (R–Rome) also said the allegations against Silver “are quite serious,” according to a statement his office released on Thursday afternoon.
“While Mr. Silver has no legal obligation at this time to resign his leadership position or his seat, Assembly members should still consider whether Mr. Silver should step aside to concentrate on his defense. I hope the Speaker realizes that this cloud of impropriety has already become a distraction from important, ongoing budget negotiations,” said Griffo.
The Rome lawmaker said that he also “sincerely” hopes that his Assembly colleagues will reconsider a bill he has proposed, which establishes term limits for leaders, “in light of today’s events.”
Griffo doesn’t believe any lawmaker should be in leadership “long enough that he or she becomes so powerful that they believe they are above the law.”
He started his statement by saying, “I’m serious about restoring people’s faith in their government, which is why it’s imperative that the legislature do the most it can to rid itself of unethical members.”
New York State Assemblyman Marc Butler (R–Newport) is also among those calling on Silver to resign his “prominent position.”
“The charges that led to Speaker Silver’s arrest this morning are disturbing, and it would be in the best interests of the people of this state that he resign his position as Assembly Speaker,” Butler said in a statement his office released Thursday afternoon. “We have much important work to do for the people of our state, like the negotiation of the budget, and it is imperative that we have a speaker in place who can be fully focused on the work of the people. I encourage Silver to do the right thing and resign from his post immediately.”
Butler represents the Assembly’s 118th district, which covers portions of Oneida, Herkimer, St. Lawrence, Fulton, and Hamilton counties, according to Butler’s website.
Charges against Silver
Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Richard Frankel, special agent-in-charge of the criminal division of the New York field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Thursday announced that authorities arrested Silver on charges that he used his official position to receive nearly $4 million in bribes and kickbacks from people and businesses in exchange for his official acts.
Silver also masked these payments from public view by disguising the payments as income from what he claimed was a law practice primarily focused on personal-injury matters, according to Bharara’s office.