Weasel of the Week: Sheldon Silver

By now, you know the story. Sheldon Silver, long-time Speaker of the New York State Assembly, was removed from that post on Monday, a week and a half after he'd been arrested on a number of charges.

However, Silver, like his downstate associates, Hiram Monserrat and Jose Espada, before him, remains defiant, and is bent on retaining his seat as an Assemblyman, (mis)representing his district in New York City. Recall that Monserrat & Espada faced different charges a couple of years ago, and while Monserrat was removed, Espada was re-elected. There were allegations that Silver may have helped yet another NYC weasel, Vito Lopez, fight charges of sexual harassment.

Silver has also been an enemy of mixed martial arts, preventing UFC, Bellator, and other pro MMA promotions from being licensed in NY. Oh, there are the amateur shows, which have to go out of their way to avoid announcing that it's MMA, else Silver would be on them like a bad rash. One such amateur show is set for the Washington Avenue Armory soon, but it's too expensive for my tastes. The ticket prices skew more toward how they price boxing. That won't get any new fans.

Digression aside, while Monserrat was convicted and thus lost his seat, we'll see how long it takes before Silver regains his power base, because inevitably, should he run for re-election, and win, he'll push to get the Speaker's job back. He shouldn't, and should've been impeached, censured, and removed from the Assembly altogether, pending the trial. Once a Weasel, always a Weasel. You have to believe that Silver was partially responsible for the state budget being late so often in past years, for one reason or another.

Now that he's been tarnished, Silver's not getting his shine back. Period.