From the NY Post:Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver spent $20,219 in taxpayer money over the past three years jetting from New York City to Albany — but the top-flight pol turned easy 150-mile, one-hour jaunts into epic 500-mile, five-hour odysseys in a greedy quest to rack up frequent-flier miles, according to sources and expense records.
Instead of finding cheap flights that connect directly from New York City to Albany, or taking less-costly trains or automobiles, the second-most powerful man in the state takes long, expensive detours through Philadelphia or Washington, DC.
“He brags about his ability to build up mileage,” said one Albany insider. “Taxpayers are footing the bill to allow Shelly to fly halfway around the world on a mileage program.”
This year alone, the Democratic kingmaker and bill slayer submitted 21 claims for reimbursement, with an average round trip costing $354 — while his colleagues slummed it on $82 round-trip Amtrak trains or stuffed themselves into carpools that cost $210 for gas and tolls.
Yet Silver doesn’t need to fly. The state provides him with a $15,000 Ford Taurus for the three-hour drive from his Lower East Side home to the Capitol. The 69-year-old jet-setter barely uses his taxpayer-gifted 2011 sedan, claiming just $832.78 for gas this year.
8 comments:
"Power corrupts." These guys don't give a rats as* about the average New Yorker. They take care of themselves and their pals. I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Well, at least, he hasn't bought his own private plane at taxpayers expense!
And poor Shelly must not make enough money from working at Weitz & Luxenberg. They'll have to run even more asbestos and mesothelioma commercials just to keep Shelly comfortable.
For a place that prides itself in being the center of the world, the local government still stuck in Boss Tweed makes us a laughing stock.
Its a bit like getting rid of cabs and the subway and carting everyone around in stagecoaches.
It will be so easy to change things people.
Let's do it!!!
"Power corrupts." These guys don't give a rats as* about the average New Yorker. They take care of themselves and their pals. I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.
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Shelly Silver is obviously untouchable legally. The way to get rid of him is for a Democratic challenger to infiltrate his district with outreach and shame those LES voters into realizing they're enabling Albany corruption.
"The way to get rid of him is for a Democratic challenger to infiltrate his district with outreach and shame those LES voters into realizing they're enabling Albany corruption."
And that will NEVER happen.
That's nothing. Barry had his dog BO (who names his dog after his own initials?) flown up to Martha's on a Marine Corps Osprey at God knows how much expense. Just another middle finger from Barry to Whitey, reparations for all the beatings hwe took from the whote kids in Punahou School growing up in Hawaii.
And that will NEVER happen.
He and his staff initially did nothing when Micah Kellner was accused of sexual harassment, so that's Strike Two against him from women's rights people - the first being the Vito Lopez saga. (And let's not forget the fact that Silver's aide Michael Boxley was accused of rape.) The next time he tries to sweep something under the rug, especially if it has to do with women as victims, it may actually cost him the Speakership. For someone who claims to be so religious that he's an orthodox Jew, he's really just a dirtbag like the people he's tried to shield.
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