Subject: 2016 GOP HIT on HRC
From: "Hendricks, Lauren" <[email-masked]>
To: Tony Carrk <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Cc: "Brinster, Jeremy" <[email-masked]>, "Crystal, Andy" <[email-masked]>, "Dillon, Lauren" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 May 2016 09:03:01 -0700

America Rising PAC Tweet
5/3/16 12:01 PM
Read Here<https://twitter.com/AmericaRising/status/727528329775972352>
Longtime @HillaryClinton<https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/> ally & former NY Assembly leader Sheldon Silver to be sentenced today for public corruption bit.ly/1TILg3K<https://t.co/vfXcZ84xNl>
Former Assembly leader Sheldon Silver to be sentenced today<http://www.syracuse.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/05/former_assembly_leader_sheldon_silver_to_be_sentenced_today.html#incart_most-commented_crime_article>
New Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver talks in 1994 with members of the Syracuse Post-Standard editorial board in Syracuse, N.Y. Photo by Carl J. Single.
Mike McAndrew | [email-masked]<http://connect.syracuse.com/staff/mmcandre/photos.html>
*         Former Assembly leader Sheldon Silver to be sentenced today<http://www.syracuse.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/05/former_assembly_leader_sheldon_silver_to_be_sentenced_today.html>
*         Feds: New York Assembly ex-speaker Sheldon Silver had affair with lobbyist<http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf/2016/04/feds_new_york_assembly_ex-speaker_sheldon_silver_had_affair_with_lobbyist.html>
*         Budget done, Albany lawmakers must take up ethics reform (Editorial)<http://www.syracuse.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/04/budget_done_albany_lawmakers_must_take_up_ethics_reform_editorial.html>
*         DeFrancisco: Lots of talk, but little change in Albany following Skelos' conviction<http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf/2015/12/defrancisco_lots_of_talk_but_little_change_in_albany_following_skelos_conviction.html>
*         Sheldon Silver submitted NY pension papers one day after conviction<http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf/2015/12/sheldon_silver_submitted_pension_papers_one_day_after_conviction.html>
All Stories<http://topics.syracuse.com/tag/Sheldon%20Silver%20trial/posts.html>

NEW YORK -- Sheldon Silver, one of the most powerful New York politicians for two decades, will stand powerless Tuesday afternoon in a Manhattan courtroom before a judge who could effectively send him to prison for the rest of his life.

U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni is scheduled to sentence the former Assembly speaker at 2 p.m.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara wants Caproni to send Silver to prison for longer than any other previous New York state lawmaker convicted of public corruption, which would be at least 14 years. He's asked the judge to sentence Silver to substantially more than the 10 years in prison that was recommended by the court's probation office.

Defense lawyers say the 72-year-old Democrat from Manhattan deserves little or no time behind bars, citing his age, his poor health, and his record of public service.

Silver will be one of two former leaders of the state Legislature to be sentenced this month. Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos<http://www.syracuse.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/04/prosecutors_seek_long_jail_terms_for_ex-ny_senate_leader_son.html>, a Republican from Long Island, is to be sentenced May 12. Skelos is also facing a potentially long prison term for public corruption crimes.

The convictions of the two former Legislature leaders has renewed demands from voters for tougher ethics reforms in Albany. But the new leaders of the Assembly and Senate, Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, opted not to include any reforms<http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf/2016/03/ethics_reforms_on_hold_in_albany_while_buffalo_lawmakers_are.html> in the state budget.

An hour before Silver is to be sentenced, representatives of government watchdog groups Common Cause/NY, Citizens Union, the League of Women Voters, NYPIRG and Reinvent Albany will hold a news conference in Albany to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers to pass comprehensive ethics reform to try to prevent future corruption cases.

Meanwhile, dozens of people have written letters to Caproni to tell her about good deeds done by Silver during his 21 years as Assembly speaker. They've included everyone from Silver's wife, who revealed Silver has prostate cancer, to his rabbi, to union leaders like Danny Donohue of the CSEA, to former Assembly colleagues like former Majority Leader Ronald Canestrare.

Others have written to the judge to urge her to punish Silver harshly.

"He knew exactly what he was doing, throw the book at him," wrote Dewey Benedetti, of Queensbury. "...He should spend the rest of his life behind bars!"

Silver served as leader of the Assembly from 1994 through early 2015.

To New Yorkers, Silver was one of the "three men in a room" - the others being the governor and Senate majority leader - who would annually negotiate behind closed doors state budgets worth $150 billion.
[052200 bragman 2 dn.JPG]<http://media.syracuse.com/politics_impact/photo/052200-bragman-2-dnjpg-c57c7c9827017568.jpg>Assemblywoman Joan Christensen, D-Syracuse, joins Assembly Majority Leader Michael Bragman and nineteen other Assembly persons at a news conference May 22, 2000 to back Bragman and his attempt to oust Sheldon Silver as speaker of the Assembly. Bragman failed in his coup attempt.Dennis Nett | [email-masked]
In 2000, former Assembly Majority Leader Michael Bragman, a Democrat from Cicero, unsuccessfully tried to lead an Assembly coup to oust Silver. Silver survived and quickly retaliated, stripping Bragman of staff and power.

Central New Yorkers perhaps best knew Silver from his periodic visits to announce lucrative grants for various projects, from Destiny USA to the Landmark Theater, or to appear at fundraisers for Syracuse area Democratic politicians like Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli.

As speaker, Silver controlled millions of dollars in political donations that he could spend to help Democratic Assembly candidates win elections. Assemblyman Al Stirpe<http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/albany_democrats_spent_nearly.html> of Cicero was one of those who most benefited from Silver's campaign dollars Silver controlled.

In the end, Silver was not powerful enough to avoid arrest, his quick ouster as speaker, and a trial before a jury of his peers.

The jury found Silver guilty<http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf/2015/11/sheldon_silver_verdict_corruption_trial.html> Nov. 30 of public corruption crimes that included obtaining nearly $4 million illegally. He was convicted on two counts of honest services mail fraud, two counts of honest services wire fraud, two counts of extortion under color of official right, and one count of monetary transactions involving crime proceeds.

Silver was accused of receiving $700,000 in payments from one law firm in exchange for using his official position to obtain recurring tax certiorari legal claims of two real estate developer clients with business before the New York State Legislature. He was also accused of receiving $3 million from a second law firm in exchange for using his official position to obtain names of unrepresented patients with mesothelioma from a doctor, to whose research Silver steered $500,000 in state funds.

The people of New York "did not tangibly suffer from any of the official acts Mr. Silver allegedly performed in exchange for receiving the referral fees at issue," Silver's lawyers wrote to the judge.

Despite his conviction, Silver can collect a state pension worth $857,669 - or $79,222 a year, according to prosecutors. Silver also still had $246,608 in a campaign account as of mid-January.

Prosecutors have asked the judge to order Silver to forfeit $5.3 million and to fine him at least $1 million.

Lauren Hendricks