More Fun Times In New York!

So today, Sheldon Silver (D), our former Speaker of the Assembly finds out exactly how long he will have to spend in prison for crimes against the taxpayers of the state of New York. Silver was convicted in February for collecting $5 million from two law firms over a series of years in exchange for using his influence to steer work to the firms, as well as providing state grants to a doctor who had patients suffering from illnesses associated with asbestos. US Attorney of SDNY Preet Bharara has requested that Silver be sentenced to only 14 years in prison which would be the largest prison sentence ever levied against a convicted state lawmaker, and is also asking that Silver return $5 million he pocketed from his corruption schemes.

The 73 year old Silver would be lucky to only get 14 years as his crimes could actually have gotten him up to 150 years. To the great annoyance of many people in New York, what he won't have to give up is his cushy state pension paid for the taxpayers for his 25+ years as an elected official. Hopefully, the state legislature will finally pass a bill that would take away the pension for Silver and all the other public servants who have been convicted of crimes against the taxpayers. It seems like a "no-brainer", but so far the legislators have failed to pass a bill or any other kind of ethics reform.

Not to be outdone by the Democrats in New York, the Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R) was convicted in December for using his influence to get no-show jobs for his son, Adam, who was also found guilty in the scheme. They are set for sentencing May 12.

And in other news, US Attorney Bharara now has his sights set on Mayor de Blasio and just this week has subpoenaed many of the mayor's appointeees for information into his various "charitable foundations" he set up that were "coincidentially" funded by the various generous people who allegedly wanted to garner special favors from the mayor.

And in other, other news, Bharara has also set his sights on Governor Andrew Cuomo and his inner circle. The same federal prosecutors who convicted Silver and Skelos have now subpoenaed by one of Cuomo's closest confidante Joseph Percoco for information concerning alleged outside income during his tenure as Cuomo's top aide. It's part of a broadening probe into Cuomo's economic-development initiatives in upstate New York and may well prove to be the end of the promising political road for Andrew Cuomo.

Yeah, things have just gotten really real for our elected officials...