NEW YORK -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo wasn't the one in custody on Thursday. But the arrest of powerful New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver could spell plenty of trouble for his fellow Democrat.
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| In this Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015 photo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, right, stands with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo before Cuomo's State of the State address |
The state's chief executive will face tough questions over his handling of corruption in the legislature. Perhaps more worryingly, he's been sent a sharp reminder that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara may be looking into why Cuomo killed an investigation into just the sort of double-dealing that Silver stands accused of.
Just hours after Silver's arrest on bribery and kickback charges involving millions of dollars, Cuomo's opponent in last year's Democratic primary wrote an op-ed lambasting the governor for closing down the corruption commission he'd created in July 2013."[A]s the Governor who promised to root out corruption, Andrew Cuomo has to answer for a culture of secrecy and corruption, an Old Boys Network that has gotten worse, not better, since he took office," Zephyr Teachout wrotein the New York Observer.
At the time Cuomo shut down the Moreland Commission last March, he explained his decision as part of a deal with the legislature to pass modest ethics reforms. State legislators had fiercely resisted the commission's attempts to subpoena records about their second jobs. New York has a part-time legislature and its state lawmakers are free to pursue outside work, as long as they disclose -- which Silver allegedly failed to do. more
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