Dumping Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as a result of public corruption charges could open the way for more democracy in the Legislature, according to Buffalo Assemblyman Sean Ryan.Ryan says it took 96 hours from the release of the criminal complaint against the Manhattan Democrat, until members voted to remove him and appoint an interim speaker, Majority Leader Joe Morelle.
The Buffalo Democrat says it was obvious once he read the 35 pages of the criminal complaint that the speaker had to go.
With a vote by the Assembly on February 10, Ryan says Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio should not intervene.
“If they try to meddle in the Assembly speaker race that would not be good for any candidate they support right now. The Assembly is proud of their independence. And that’s part of the reason we gave our self this two-week window. We want to go through an open process, but we also know we can withstand outside political pressures and make a choice that’s best for the whole of New York State,” Ryan said.
Ryan says that with a lot of legislative voters outside of New York City, he is encouraging the candidates to travel statewide in the two-week election campaign and introduce themselves.
