Paul Newell is challenging Sheldon Silver in a NY State Assembly primary. That sounds a bit like a parochial local concern, but Silver is the super-powerful Speaker of the assembly and actually quite reactionary on a variety of issues including an unhelpful posture on the now-dead NYC congestion pricing initiative. Were he to lose -- or even just need to feel the fear -- that would send a loud signal about the rising political prospects of urbanism. Streetsblog has a worthwhile interview.
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Paul Newell
30 Apr 2008 08:18 am
Comments (15)
Marshall:
How has Silver done in advancing Progressive positions? Or is he just another guy only concerned with how much pork he can bring home to his district?
Silver has been a friend to the city's public schools, most recently this year.
I realize that funding the great public edifices of education and health doesn't count as a "Progressive position" in this day and age, rather as "pork." Only Bloomberg's nonsensical development initiatives qualify for the know-nothing seal of approval.
There's lots of things to object to about Silver but this is not one of them.
The vast majority of New York Democrats were opposed to congestion pricing. Notably Richard Brodsky of Westchester, one of the two or three smartest guys in the legislature and usually a reliable progressive, who put his considerable talents to work buidling opposition to the plan among Assembly Dems. If congestion pricing had come to a vote, it would have lost badly.
Even the City Council could barely get a majority vote in favor of the plan, with members like Darlene Mealy -- a former *transit worker*, for god's sake, whose Bed-Stuy/Crown Heights district probably contains about seven people who commute into Manhattan by car -- voting against.
The Dems were incredibly stupid on this but it's not Silver's fault.
I don't the opposition to congestion pricing, per se, is a good reason to challenge Silver. However, by all accounts, Silver rules the Assembly with an iron fist, and only good things can come from weakening him.
I don't the opposition to congestion pricing, per se, is a good reason to challenge Silver. However, by all accounts, Silver rules the Assembly with an iron fist, and only good things can come from weakening him.
See: Silver-Bruno non aggression pact.
I'm managing Paul Newell's campaign and I want to say that this is not merely about congestion pricing- it is also about how about how congestion pricing was defeated- Silver didn't even let the issue go to a vote on the floor of the Assembly. Instead, it was killed in a closed door meeting. New York has the most dysfunctional state legislature in the country and a total lack of transparency in the legislative process. The situation is appalling is largely to blame for New York having one of the most progressive electorates nationally but very little to show for it.
Even with the scandals and upheavals surrounding the Governor's office here, it has been over a year that two of the "three men in a room" have been Democrats but we still haven't seen any real implementation of reform in the legislative rules that, as the Brennan Center says "discourage rank-and-file lawmakers from full participation in the legislative process, thus depriving citizens of full representation in Albany."
Nothing will change until the incumbent Democrats who go along with, and profit from, this system in New York are taken out of office or see that they face real threats to their seats. As a friend said to me the other night, when you are facing ten guys in a fight, you've got to go after the biggest one to have any chance. Silver is definitely the big guy.
I've worked primarily on the national level until now. Among many projects, I ran the 527 youth efforts in Ohio in 2004 and was a co-founder of what became VoteVets.org. I grew tired of New Yorkers being so concerned with what was happening in the "red states" while here at home we suffer draconian drug laws, appalling legislative inefficiency and a lack of representation in our legislature that is without parallel. For more information, check out our website at www.newellnyc.org.
-Evan Hutchison
Manager, Paul Newell for the 64th Assembly District
I'm managing Paul Newell's campaign and I want to say that this is not merely about congestion pricing- it is also about how about how congestion pricing was defeated- Silver didn't even let the issue go to a vote on the floor of the Assembly. Instead, it was killed in a closed door meeting. New York has the most dysfunctional state legislature in the country and a total lack of transparency in the legislative process. The situation is appalling is largely to blame for New York having one of the most progressive electorates nationally but very little to show for it.
Even with the scandals and upheavals surrounding the Governor's office here, it has been over a year that two of the "three men in a room" have been Democrats but we still haven't seen any real implementation of reform in the legislative rules that, as the Brennan Center says "discourage rank-and-file lawmakers from full participation in the legislative process, thus depriving citizens of full representation in Albany."
Nothing will change until the incumbent Democrats who go along with, and profit from, this system in New York are taken out of office or see that they face real threats to their seats. As a friend said to me the other night, when you are facing ten guys in a fight, you've got to go after the biggest one to have any chance. Silver is definitely the big guy.
I've worked primarily on the national level until now. Among many projects, I ran the 527 youth efforts in Ohio in 2004 and was a co-founder of what became VoteVets.org. I grew tired of New Yorkers being so concerned with what was happening in the "red states" while here at home we suffer draconian drug laws, appalling legislative inefficiency and a lack of representation in our legislature that is without parallel. For more information, check out our website at www.newellnyc.org.
-Evan Hutchison
Manager, Paul Newell for the 64th Assembly District
I've worked as a volunteer alongside Paul Newell in the Lower East Side during the early stages of the Obama campaign in the city. I've met him on a few occasions at volunteer events, and he's always struck me as genuine, thoughtful, and down to earth. I hope his campaign goes well, and may even end up volunteering for his campaign at some point (even if I live further uptown).
Congestion pricing can easily be resurrected in NYC simply by charging appropriately for public parking and increasing the taxes on private parking: same result, much less bureaucratic infrastructure, and no need to involve the NY Assembly.
Sheldon Silver makes his bank by selling out New Yorkers on anything that matters. He's a canker sore.
Congestion pricing? He wouldn't allow a vote because he knew it would win. Why? Why does an Assemblyman that represents downtown Manhattan do something like that? Oh, right. Downtown Manhattan.
Lemuel, are you saying that congestion pricing would have been a bad idea, or just that it wasn't a popular idea? If the latter, can you say more about or provide a link to what about it you (or Brodsky, for that matter) found objectionable? I mean, obviously lots of people in Westchester enjoy driving into the city (I did, when I grew up in Westchester), but if Brodsky opposed it for that reason it's not much of one.
I don't buy it. As part of the Triumverate, Silver's got his hand on the patronage spigot of the whole damn state, and the plan is to take him out with a primary election ground campaign built from scratch? Not only will that obviously not work, I don't see it inspiring any fear whatsoever.
In 2006, 18,739 people voted for either candidate (86.57% of them for Silver) voted Silver's district. I don't think he had a primary opponent, but could be wrong. Wikipedia claims there are 127,000 people in the average New York Assembly district. The numbers needed to take down Silver seem totally doable with a well-funded candidate.
With a well organized campaign and a committed candidate, Newell can win. It is no exaggeration to say that removing Silver from office will benefit every single New Yorker; he is completely undeserving of the power he wields and the public trust.
Are Newell's supporters organizing online anywhere?
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Heads in the Sand
That interview isn't particularly informative on the matters I would think important in evaluating this challenge. I'm a big fan of primary challenges to Democrats, but this one strikes me as wrong-footed. Maybe it's because I'm not as anti-Silver as your average privileged Manhattan yuppie. Though he is a gigantic hypocrite, he is also a somewhat skilled politician, which is of course lacking on our side.
Posted by Marshall | April 30, 2008 9:18 AM