Silver
ALBANY – Embattled State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will step down. His resignation, decided Tuesday evening, came after two days of closed door conferencing among majority Assembly members.
Silver was arrested last week by federal authorities on corruption charges for allegedly accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks.
Assemblyman Kevin Cahill (D, Kingston) said the decision to resign his leadership post “is in the best interest of advancing the values and progress and the needs of working New Yorkers.”
Cahill said the Assembly majority conference will nominate a candidate to replace Silver in the next several weeks.
“Personal relationships and political alliances should take a back seat going forward as my colleagues and I selected the leader who will assure that our priorities become the driving force in our upcoming budget and the remainder of the session,” Cahill said. “Of course, we must also redouble our efforts to restore the faith the public deserves to have in our institutions of government.”
Assemblyman James Skoufis (D, Woodbury) who called for Silver’s resignation as speaker, said that “it is critical that, alongside new leadership, we move on to the pressing issues facing the state and Hudson Valley, including ethics reform, education, tax relief, and improvements to our infrastructure.” That time to move on is now, Skoufis said.
Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther (D, Forestburg) said while the process continues
to unfold, “I will continue to focus on the job I was elected to
do – represent my constituents with honesty and integrity.”
Freshman Republican Assemblyman Karl Brabenec (R-Deerpark) said Silver’s
resignation will mark the end of “more than 21 years of dysfunction,
greed and corruption.” Brabenec said he looks forward to working
with the Assembly majority “to make sure that a new era, one worthy
of the hardworking middle class families of Orange and Rockland counties,
comes to Albany.”
