Is it any wonder why we are in such a sad state of affairs and why Silver always gets re-elected? My God, talk about corruption, use and abuse of Taxpayers money for his own self serving purposes… This man must be taken out as leader of the assembly.

So my question for all the Democrats in the assembly…. will you re-elect this corrupt individual as leader once again? If so, why? Is he holding a gun to your head? Do the right thing this year
—- VOTE SILVER OUT!.

Silver’s Grasp on ‘Member Items’ Surprises Other Lawmakers - December 4, 2006 - The New York Sun
Silver’s Grasp on ‘Member Items’ Surprises Other Lawmakers

When the state Assembly complied with a state judge’s order and disclosed details of its pork barrel projects, the deepest gasps of surprise didn’t come from budget watchdog groups and concerned citizens, but from lawmakers themselves.

Although no lawmaker was naïve enough to have assumed that the funds, which are known in Albany as “member items,” were distributed equitably among members of the majority conference, few had an inkling of the magnitude of the share controlled by the Assembly’s longtime speaker, Sheldon Silver.

Late last week it emerged that Mr. Silver has given out more than $7 million of the roughly $50 million in member item projects earmarked by the Assembly in this year’s budget. Mr. Silver’s share of the pie is in many cases 100 times larger than that of other Democratic lawmakers and dwarfs the portions of even the most veteran lawmakers in the conference.

For a number of Democratic lawmakers in the Assembly, the disclosure of the disparity between Mr. Silver’s largesse and theirs has provided them with an awareness of their relative insignificance and a bitter lesson of how power is distributed in Albany.

Mindful of the consequences that could result by voicing disapproval, no one in the Assembly has yet to publicly complain about the size of Mr. Silver’s slice. Privately, Democratic members of the Assembly are venting their unhappiness with the speaker.

“He’s running around with millions,” an assembly member who spoke to The New York Sun on condition of anonymity said. “It’s pretty extraordinary. We didn’t know what he got, we had no idea what everybody got.”

Each year, the Assembly and the Senate set aside $85 million in tax funds to pay for the projects. In October, a state judge ordered both houses to detail how the money is distributed and spent. During the budget process, the leaders of each house — Mr. Silver in the Assembly and Joseph Bruno in the Republican-controlled Senate — divide up the pot of money among members, who come up with lists of pet projects for their districts.