New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver walks out of the Federal Courthouse after his arraignment on January 22, 2015 in New York City.
Photo by AFP
[From article]
Sheldon Silver has perverted the courts as well as the Capitol.
His law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, gets its asbestos cases — and paydays — moved more quickly than those of other attorneys, and reaps a fortune from favorable rulings by friendly judges, charge lawyers and tort-reform advocates.
Silver’s East Village firm handles more than half the cases in a special section of Manhattan Supreme Court called NYCAL (New York City Asbestos Litigation). So dominant is the firm, the court’s Web site refers to cases as “Weitz” or “non-Weitz.”
The chief asbestos judge, Sherry Klein Heitler — also Manhattan’s chief civil judge — has handled dozens of Weitz & Luxenberg cases.
[. . .]
As one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, Silver also strongly influences his party’s nomination of candidates for judgeships in Manhattan and elsewhere. Heitler and Madden are both Democrats, and both first ran for the bench during Silver’s tenure as speaker.
“He has a hand in judicial appointments, and judges know not to bite the hand that feeds them,” said Mark Behrens, a DC attorney who advocates for asbestos-litigation reform for defendants.
To top all that, Silver persuaded former Gov. David Paterson in 2009 to appoint Jonathan Lippman, his boyhood chum from the Lower East Side, as the state’s highest jurist, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett wrote at the time. Silver had boosted Lippman’s career for years. He was the court’s chief administrative judge from 1996 to 2007.
http://nypost.com/2015/01/25/silvers-law-firm-rakes-in-cash-as-asbestos-court-fast-tracks-claims/
Silver’s law firm rakes in millions from judges he controls
By Susan Edelman
New York Post
January 25, 2015 | 3:00am
* * *
[From article]
Silver’s fall, on what are expected to be corruption charges related to undisclosed payments from a law firm, comes as the Lower East Side old boys network he ruled continues to self-immolate.
Silver was a member of a tight-knit coterie of Jewish political operators who came up together in the co-op developments on Grand Street. Many had working class roots, belonged to the Bialystoker Synagogue on Willett Street, and developed power together through the same few Jewish institutions.
Now, that Lower East Side crew is falling to pieces. William Rapfogel, Silver’s close ally, is in state prison after pleading guilty to embezzling millions a executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. Silver was a key benefactor of the Met Council, and William Rapfogel’s wife Judy is Silver’s chief of staff. Heshy Jacob, the traditional third member of Rapfogel and Silver’s Lower East Side power troika, was traveling in Israel and said he was unaware of Silver’s arrest when reached via telephone.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.638596
Sheldon Silver's fall signals end of a (Jewish) era in New York politics
Silver, one of the most powerful men in state politics, was arrested by FBI on corruption charges; his arrest marks the falling to pieces of Lower East Side Gang.
By The Forward and Josh Nathan-Kazis
[From article]
Sheldon Silver has perverted the courts as well as the Capitol.
His law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, gets its asbestos cases — and paydays — moved more quickly than those of other attorneys, and reaps a fortune from favorable rulings by friendly judges, charge lawyers and tort-reform advocates.
Silver’s East Village firm handles more than half the cases in a special section of Manhattan Supreme Court called NYCAL (New York City Asbestos Litigation). So dominant is the firm, the court’s Web site refers to cases as “Weitz” or “non-Weitz.”
The chief asbestos judge, Sherry Klein Heitler — also Manhattan’s chief civil judge — has handled dozens of Weitz & Luxenberg cases.
[. . .]
As one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, Silver also strongly influences his party’s nomination of candidates for judgeships in Manhattan and elsewhere. Heitler and Madden are both Democrats, and both first ran for the bench during Silver’s tenure as speaker.
“He has a hand in judicial appointments, and judges know not to bite the hand that feeds them,” said Mark Behrens, a DC attorney who advocates for asbestos-litigation reform for defendants.
To top all that, Silver persuaded former Gov. David Paterson in 2009 to appoint Jonathan Lippman, his boyhood chum from the Lower East Side, as the state’s highest jurist, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett wrote at the time. Silver had boosted Lippman’s career for years. He was the court’s chief administrative judge from 1996 to 2007.
http://nypost.com/2015/01/25/silvers-law-firm-rakes-in-cash-as-asbestos-court-fast-tracks-claims/
Silver’s law firm rakes in millions from judges he controls
By Susan Edelman
New York Post
January 25, 2015 | 3:00am
* * *
[From article]
Silver’s fall, on what are expected to be corruption charges related to undisclosed payments from a law firm, comes as the Lower East Side old boys network he ruled continues to self-immolate.
Silver was a member of a tight-knit coterie of Jewish political operators who came up together in the co-op developments on Grand Street. Many had working class roots, belonged to the Bialystoker Synagogue on Willett Street, and developed power together through the same few Jewish institutions.
Now, that Lower East Side crew is falling to pieces. William Rapfogel, Silver’s close ally, is in state prison after pleading guilty to embezzling millions a executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. Silver was a key benefactor of the Met Council, and William Rapfogel’s wife Judy is Silver’s chief of staff. Heshy Jacob, the traditional third member of Rapfogel and Silver’s Lower East Side power troika, was traveling in Israel and said he was unaware of Silver’s arrest when reached via telephone.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.638596
Sheldon Silver's fall signals end of a (Jewish) era in New York politics
Silver, one of the most powerful men in state politics, was arrested by FBI on corruption charges; his arrest marks the falling to pieces of Lower East Side Gang.
By The Forward and Josh Nathan-Kazis
Jan. 23, 2015 | 4:20 AM
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