Silver dies in jail
Bribes taint legacy of powerful pol, 77
Sheldon Silver, the Democratic powerhouse who ruled Albany with an iron fist until he convicted on federal corruption charges in a stunning fall from grace, died Monday in prison. He was 77.
The disgraced politician died at the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Mass., while serving out a 6¹/2-year sentence at a nearby prison after he was convicted of accepting nearly $4 million in bribes while in office, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed.
The official cause of death will be determined by a medical examiner but the longtime kingmaker had a history of chronic kidney disease and cancer.
“For all our many disagreements and battles, it’s a sad day and a stark reminder that integrity in public service matters,” GOP former Gov. George Pataki told The Post. “When I look back, I always try to think about the good, the accomplishments we achieved together — and there were many, but there could have and should have been more. It’s a shame that his career in public service ended in such a tragic way, but it is a lesson that is important today.”
Silver’s family didn’t return a request for comment.
Born in 1944 to Russian immigrants, the Manhattan native first took office in 1976 and became the Assembly speaker in 1994, a powerful position that made him one of Albany’s “three men in a room” negotiating annual budgets and major legislation with the governor and state Senate majority leader.
He was arrested on federal corruption charges in 2015. He was tried and found guilty on all charges twice, after his first conviction was overturned, but staved off sentencing until 2020.
Despite his misdeeds, friends and colleagues remembered Silver for his commitment to Democratic policies, his devout faith as an Orthodox Jew and the indelible impact he had on state politics.
Former State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-LI), who served alongside Silver for about 16 years, recalled, “He could be tenacious, he could be so quiet for such long periods of time — that was sort of his mantra and how he was described. He was like a sphinx. It was his way of doing business.”