SHEL’S BELLES!
Slime pol didn’t just screw taxpayers — he bedded these married women, too!
Court filings unsealed on Friday reveal that disgraced former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had affairs with two married women — identified by sources as former Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer (top) and lobbyist Patricia Lynch.
SHELDON SILVER DIDN'T just cheat the system — he cheated on his wife too.
Court filings unsealed Friday show the disgraced former Assembly speaker had affairs with two married women — one a state lobbyist and one whom he helped get a job with the state.
The “government has credible and corroborated evidence that while serving as speaker of the Assembly, the defendant engaged in extramarital relationships with two women,” the feds say in the court filing.
The women’s names were redacted, but the filing says one “lobbied the defendant on a regular basis on behalf of clients who had business before the state.”
Sources identified the lobbyist as Patricia Lynch, and the state employee as former model-turned-former Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer — similar-looking blonds.
Lynch, 58, is a former top aide to Silver who founded her own powerhouse lobbying firm, Patricia Lynch Associates.
Lynch was well-known for her close ties to the powerful pol, and the feds’ filing says she was identified by witnesses as “an individual who as a lobbyist had special access to the defendant” and “who obtained certain clients in part because of her access to the defendant.”
The government has an incriminating tape recorded conversation between the pair, the filing says.
In it, they “discuss their desire to keep the truth about their relationship from reporters inquiring about extramarital relationships, and how they should handle such inquiry.”
Silver, 72, also told her he was concerned word would get out because reporters had requested his “travel and campaign finance records,” the filing says. He “expressed concern that those documents as well as telephone records could reveal their relationship.”
They then went on to discuss a client she was lobbying for.
“I don’t talk to anybody about the issue except for you,” she is quoted as saying.
Lynch, through her office, declined comment.
The other alleged mistress was a person “for whom the defendant used his official position to recommend for a job with the state (redacted) over which he exercised a particularly high level of control.”
He aggressively pushed for her hire “during the course of their relationship, the filing says — and even got a special cell phone to talk to her on, the filing says.
Hyer-Spencer, 51, was a Democratic Assemblywoman between 2007 and 2010.
She was a close ally of Silver’s during her time in office, and he reportedly pushed for her to get an $84,000-a-year gig as a federal legislative liaison for the state Education Department after she lost her bid for reelection.
A source said federal investigators interviewed people involved with Hyer-Spencer’s hiring at the Education Department last year. The source said Silver used to drop her off at work in his car.
A lawyer in addition to being a marathon runner and avid sailor,
Hyer-Spencer became a magistrate in Staten Island Family Court in 2013.
Her lawyer, Manuel Ortega, said the feds were smearing his client, whom he did not name.
“There is absolutely no truth to the allegations of an affair. A friendship has been turned into a sexual relationship with no evidence whatsoever,” he said.
The federal prosecutors’ filing called the alleged extramarital affairs “relevant not only to the defendant’s moral character, but to the use of his official position for private benefit.”
The feds hoped to be able to use the affairs against Silver had he taken the stand at his criminal trial last year. Silver’s attorneys had urged the judge to keep the evidence out of the trial, calling it “a transparent attempt to smear Mr. Silver’s personal character before the jury with irrelevant and tawdry gossip that has nothing to do with the charges in this case.” As they did with the corruption charges against their client, Silver’s lawyers maintained there was no quid pro quo. “The government offers no proof whatsoever that Mr. Silver ever ‘used his official powers to help (redacted) in exchange for a purported sexual relationship, or even that he treated her lobbying proposals any differently from any other person's,” their filing says.
As for the state employee, Silver’s lawyers argued, “the government’s argument fails because it does not show that Mr. Silver sought a job for (redacted) in exchange for a purported sexual relationship.”
“Mr. Silver’s personal relationship with his wife is not an issue this case,” they said.
Silver has been married to his 70-year-old wife, Rosa, a former teacher, for decades. They have four adult children.
In a decision released Friday, Manhattan Federal Court Justice Valerie Caproni noted the “personal and embarrassing conduct” had “public ramifications,” given that the feds are alleging Silver “used his official position to benefit each Jane Doe, who also worked in or with New York State government, for his own personal gain, echoing the abuse of public office for which the defendant stands convicted.”
In a joint statement Friday, Silver’s lawyers Steven Molo and Joel Cohen said, “These are simply unproven and salacious allegations that have no place in this case or public discussion.”
Caproni ordered the information unsealed at a hearing on Thursday, noting that the information could potentially impact whatever sentence she hands down on May 3.
The News reported last week that Silver stopped pushing for a bill to aid victims of predators after the state Catholic Conference hired Lynch as a lobbyist in 2009. He’d previously supported the bill to extend the age that an adult who was sexually abused as a child could file a lawsuit.
Lynch’s company was the second highest compensated lobbying firm in the state in 2012, but dropped out of the top 10 last year, after Silver was arrested, the New York Law Journal reported.
Silver was convicted of multiple corruption charges in November. He faces up to 130 years in prison when he’s sentenced, but is likely to be sentenced to much less.
Meanwhile, a different Manhattan Federal Court judge denied a bid by Silver’s former counterpart in the state senate, Dean Skelos, for a new trial on Friday. Like Silver, the former Senate Majority Leader and his son Adam Skelos are facing up to 130 years when they’re sentenced on corruption charges later this month.
(The) government has credible and corroborated evidence that while serving as Speaker of the Assembly, the defendant engaged in extramarital relationships with two women. MANHATTAN U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE