In the News: Sheldon Silver Was Shtupping a Lobbyist

••• “The amount of money spent by the Battery Park City Authority to purchase goods and services without competitive bidding has grown by 19 percent during the last four years, from $30.1 million in 2012 to $37.2 million in 2015 (the most recent year for which figures are available), according to a review of the agency’s annual reports. For 2015, this figure represents fully one-third of all the money that the BPCA allocated for every category of expense, a total of $112.1 million.” Some of this is justifiable, says the Broadsheet; some not so much. And the last two paragraphs about the privacy screens are a must-read.

••• “Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have evidence that Sheldon Silver, the former speaker of the New York State Assembly, engaged in extramarital relationships with two women, according to newly unsealed court documents. The women were not identified in the papers released on Friday, but one of them lobbied him ‘on a regular basis on behalf of clients who had business before the state,’ the government said in a memo to a judge.” —New York Times

••• “A canoe from Hawaii that’s sailing around the world will stop in Long Island City this spring, part of a four-year voyage for the ship that aims to promote sustainability. […] The Hōkūleʻa is also expected to spend time at the North Cove Marina in Battery Park City on June 5 and at Pier 26 in TriBeCa on June 11.” —DNAinfo

 

3 Comments

  1. Published information indicates one of the Silver women was possibly Patricia Lynch, his former aide and lobbyist.

    Per Newsday (http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/sheldon-silver-had-2-extramarital-relationships-docs-say-1.11694908)

    “The government and media lawyers fought for their release, but it was opposed by Silver’s legal team and by Abbe David Lowell, the lawyer for the female lobbyist, who tried to keep the fact that she was a lobbyist secret as well as her name. […]

    “Lowell, a lawyer at the law firm Chadbourne & Parke, initially contended, according to unsealed court filings, that his own name should be kept secret because it would make the identity of the lobbyist obvious. He did not return a call for comment.”

    Lowell represented Patricia Lynch in a matter involving her lobbying firm and the NYS Attorney General.

    Per http://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/press-releases/archived/PLA.pdf:

    “This Assurance of Discontinuance (“Assurance”) contains the findings of the Attorney General’s investigation as relevant to Patricia Lynch Associates Inc. (“PLA”) and the employees thereof, and the relief agreed to by the parties. […]

    “45. All notices, reports, requests, and other communications to any party pursuant to this Assurance shall be in writing and shall be directed as follows:

    If to PLA:
    Abbe D. Lowell, Esq.
    McDermott Will & Emery LLP
    600 13th Street, N.W.
    Washington, D.C. 20005-3096”

  2. I guess Silver had more than just his hand out.

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