NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, accused of taking $4M in bribes, kickbacks

The show-me-the-money culture of Albany has been perpetuated and promoted at the very top of the political food chain," Bharara said. "And as the charges also show, the greedy art of secret self-reward was practiced with particular cleverness and cynicism by the speaker himself."

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/sheldon-silver-assembly-speake...

The events this week have shaken that sense of security and raised the possibility that Mr. Silver, the quintessential capital insider, could reveal his own colleagues’ misdeeds to federal prosecutors in exchange for leniency.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/nyregion/sheldon-silver-predictin...

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the Thursday-morning arrest of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver goes to “the core of the problem” in state government corruption: “lack of transparency, lack of accountability and lack of principle, joined with an overabundance of greed, cronyism and self-dealing.”

In a press conference, Bharara laid out the case against Silver and said it emerged in part from materials collected by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Moreland Commission panel on public corruption. That panel was shuttered in April 2014 midway through its planned lifespan after a budget negotiation between Cuomo and the legislative leaders included a modest package of ethics fixes.

“For many years, New Yorkers have asked the question, ‘How could Speaker Silver — one of the most powerful men in all of New York — earn millions of dollars in outside income without deeply compromising his ability to honestly serve his constituents?’ Today we provide the answer: He didn’t,” Bharara said.

” … For many years, New Yorkers have also asked the question, ‘What exactly does Speaker Silver do to earns his substantial outside income?’ Well, the head-scratching can come to an end on that score too, because the answer to that question today as well (is) he does nothing.”

Instead, Bharara said, Silver “simply sat back and collected millions of dollars by cashing in on his public office and his political influence.”

“We will keep at it, because the men and woman of the FBI and of my office still subscribe to the quaint view that no one is above the law, no matter who you are, or who know, or how much money you have,” he said. “And so our unfinished fight against public corruption continues. You should stay tuned.”

http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/228037/bharara-after-si...

Back in 2004, when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver blocked passage of the state budget with a series of bizarre objections, a frustrated Gov. George Pataki confronted him: “Who is your client?’’ the governor demanded.
The showdown made headlines because of the clear insinuation that Silver, a Democrat, was using his official power to serve a private customer and enrich himself. That it took nearly 11 long years for prosecutors finally to make a case along those very lines reveals both the complexity of Silver’s alleged scams and Albany’s rotten pay-to-play culture.
The Empire State’s capital is corrupt to the core, and has been for a very long time. Virtually nothing happens there that isn’t driven by self-dealing. It is a cesspool unworthy of respect or trust and now stands naked in disgrace.

http://nypost.com/2015/01/22/everyone-knew-about-sheldon-silvers-co...

Law Firm as Bag Man - Imagine That

Silver was accused of pressuring two real estate companies doing business with the state to hire a law firm that was regularly paying him bribes, the 35-page complaint charged.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/assembly-speaker-silver-ar...

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Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on January 23, 2015 at 11:51am

Silver seems to have been quite the wind supporter:

"Who is Speaker Silver trying to fool when he says the Power Act will give New Yorkers an increased voice when precisely the opposite has taken place! Leaders of the state legislature somehow managed to convince the majority that the Power NY Act was beneficial and without them having time to do their homework they were sold a bill of goods based on false rhetoric and passed the bill.

The real objective here is to implement more expensive, less efficient electricity (like wind and solar energy),upon communities that may not want such an imposing industrial complex that may not fit the character of the municipality that it victimizes.

http://bewarenywind.blogspot.com/2011/12/power-ny-act-of-2011-is-fa...

Comment by Long Islander on January 22, 2015 at 9:54pm
Comment by Long Islander on January 22, 2015 at 5:42pm
The following site links to a PDF documents of a NYS Code of Conduct signed by First Wind CEO Paul Gaynor. 
I believe this originally came from the following, where the attachment is mysteriously no longer available.
 
It would be nice to see a code of conduct for wind companies established in Maine. What would it take?
 
Also at the link, see a letter from then U.S. Congressman (D) Eric Massa to President Obama where he terms First Wind's business model as one of "lie, cheat and corrupt".
Comment by arthur qwenk on January 22, 2015 at 5:15pm

What politicians in the State of Maine are "on the take"   from the wind industry?

I will bet you there are more than you think. (my opinion of course)

Remember, Maine has  a very poor to non-existent ethics code for politicians ,and the big bucks floating around Augusta from the wind lobby are everywhere ,and Maine is a poor state.  

Ask Kurt Adams of the PUC from a few years back  how he worked with First Wind on an employment  sweet heart deal for shares of WNDY (which never came to fruition ) while he was still working for Maine(now an exec there) ..Oh , I forget,the AG said there was no conflict .

Ask Angus King of Independence Wind about his "Specialty Turbines" at Record Hill enabling him to get grant money from the Feds.. Oh yes,they were very special were they not? 

Ask Rep. Everett Mcleod of Lee if he took money for turbine placement on his land (leases) form First Wind and never divulged his relationship to the public during the Rollins Project permitting procedures in Lincoln Me in 2008 ... (oh,he is deceased )

Under the table cash transfer is very hard to prove,and the wind lobby knows how to have unrecorded "proprietary " meetings with town officials . That is their silent  modus operandi , as they case communities for years and have scouts to feel out areas.

Do wind bribes exist in Maine..?    You be the judge.   

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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