"All the light and matter and information in the room was being sucked into Shelly, and nothing could escape."
Aaron Naparstek -- unmasked in the New Yorker as the person behind the Fake Sheldon Silver Twitter feed (he's also the founder of Streetsblog) -- on encountering the actual Sheldon Silver: "He was like this dark, round thing in the middle of the room. It felt like a black hole. All the light and matter and information in the room was being sucked into Shelly, and nothing could escape. ... I loved the notion that here you have this guy called the Speaker, and what is the most salient descriptive point about Shelly? He doesn't speak! All of his power derives from not speaking as long as possible, and then, at the very end, either saying yes or no -- and usually no. I just felt like there was inherent humor there." [The New Yorker]
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"Silver made an occasional habit of flying to Albany through Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., in order to amass more frequent-flier miles—at taxpayers’ expense."
For some bizarre reason I find the above fact to be more outrageous than the amassing of millions of dollars in graft and kick backs. It's the very smallness of it that burns me! People of enormous wealth who have to take advantage of every deal, every savings. I bet he doesn't let any senior citizen discount escape him either.
... said chrisck on Feb 2, 2015 at 12:19 PM | link
The idea that Shelly (or any of the other people in the room) made decisions so unilaterally is a journalistic convenience. Like their actions or not, Shelly was by definition a representative of a rather large group.
... said Justin on Feb 2, 2015 at 4:25 PM | link
Well,. flying from NYC to Albany (or from Albany to Buffalo or Rochester, for that matter) is not a very straightforward task. There is a service from Newark to Albany - which is far from smooth, or you need a connection. Philadelphia and DC are pretty much nearest connection points. I would see the issue if someone connected in Chicago or Atlanta.
Now Amtrak or driving could also be an option, as connecting would eat up most of advantage in speed. And I heard that state regulations "almost forbid" business air travel between Albany and NYC for state employers.
... said Mike on Feb 3, 2015 at 10:55 AM | link
@Mike -- legislators clearly don't have to follow the same rules as regular state workers. At least in my experience, state workers who even got permission to fly would not personally accrue the frequent flyer miles for their own use (vacations, use by family members).
... said chrisck on Feb 3, 2015 at 11:49 AM | link