Shelly’s affairs of state

Sheldon Silver’s corruption trial already proved that the former Assembly speaker was in bed with lobbyists. Documents unsealed Friday showed that that was true literally as well as figuratively. In an unveiling that Silver furiously attempted to keep out of the public eye, the documents exposed one of the biggest open secrets in Albany: The speaker had a lengthy affair with former staffer Patricia Lynch, who used her personal relationship with Silver to become a top Albany lobbyist.

There was another other woman to boot, one whom Silver went to great lengths to hook up with a state job.

With another politician, affairs might be fodder for gossip columns; here, they depressingly cement the legacy of a man who twisted every lever of government to serve himself. And Silver’s minions, many of whom surely knew how corrupt and sordid these arrangements were, went along with the man to whom they ceded their power and dignity.

Lynch was Silver’s press secretary for years. After leaving the public payroll in 2001, she founded Patricia Lynch & Associates, which soon soared into the upper echelon of state lobbying firms.

Which means Silver helped her build a fortune based on dealings in the dark.

Prosecutors claimed the filings were “relevant not only to the defendant’s moral character, but to the use of his official position for private benefit.”

Which is why Judge Valerie Caproni must give Silver the stiffest sentence possible. Let him try to win friends and influence people in prison.