Guilty.
That’s what the jury in Sheldon Silver’s corruption case decided Monday. And now the former Assembly speaker has been forced out of office and faces jail time.
It’s a big win for New York.
Not just because he was such a disastrous lawmaker. But also because it means even powerful pols like Silver, who ruled the Assembly with an iron fist for years, can be held to account for their corrupt doings.
US Attorney Preet Bharara and his team deserve hearty congratulations for their unceasing effort to get to the bottom of Albany’s influence-peddling.
Indeed, in finding him guilty — on all counts — of selling his political office for $4 million in secret deals, the jury sent a clear message: Corruption may be business as usual in Albany, but it’s also a crime.
Silver, who was convicted of honest-services fraud, extortion and money-laundering, now faces up to 20 years behind bars. He automatically loses his seat in the Assembly, where he served since 1977.
The verdict is a fitting and long-overdue end to the career of a political titan who reveled in his power and his arrogant belief that he could line his pockets at the public’s expense, with impunity. It should strike fear into the hearts of all those pols who, like Silver, believed secret handshakes, wink-and-nod deals and cash-filled envelopes are the way to do the people’s business.
Silver’s lawyers had insisted his behavior was consistent with “the system New York has chosen, and it’s not a crime.”
Wrong on both counts.
Now Bharara is looking for a similar conviction against the former head of the Senate, Dean Skelos — who’s also on trial for corruption. Unfortunately, even a guilty verdict there won’t “fix” Albany, as Bharara himself has suggested.
Yes, New York’s got its work cut out for it. But Monday’s verdict sure was a good start.