Will DiNapoli break from Silver?

The Island Now

You can judge a person’s character by the company they keep.

Did anyone notice the smiling face of downtown Manhattan’s own New York State Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver standing shoulder to shoulder with state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli? Silver looked like the cat who swallowed the canary, as he watched DiNapoli addressing a crowd of loyal supporters at the Sheraton New York Hotel to celebrate his victory on election night. It reminded me of the puppet and the puppeteer.

One wonders how much influence “King Maker” Speaker Silver has over Comptroller DiNapoli? Take a quick trip down memory lane to see how Speaker Silver as mentor made former state Assemblymember DiNapoli the comptroller today.

In a previous life, as a loyal member of the state Assembly under Speaker Silver – then state Assemblymember DiNapoli year after year voted in favor of each and every adopted state budget.

Year after year, by his vote — he concurred with both increasing spending above the rate of inflation along with allowing state debt to grow by billions of dollars.

In return, Assemblymember DiNapoli got to bring home his share of the bacon known as member item pork barrel spending. Many of his constituents don’t believe these treats are kosher.

As a result of his long-time faithful allegiance to Speaker Silver, he was selected by a joint session of all 212 members of the state Legislature to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of state Comptroller Alan Hevesi. (He just pleaded guilty to all of his crimes) Millions of registered voters were disenfranchised in the process by this back-door maneuver. It is interesting that after all these years, Comptroller DiNapoli attempted to reinvent himself from the days of Assemblymember DiNapoli. Having served as an Assemblymember for 20 years, DiNapoli is clearly one of Albany’s insider career politicians.

DiNapoli in his 2010 re-election effort refused to seriously criticize or campaign against any of his benefactors who are responsible for the fiscal mess we are in today.

Democratic Party loyalty is more important than any allegiance to the taxpayers picking up the tab. In return, Speaker Silver and many of his members actively supported and campaigned for DiNapoli. Many submitted letters to the editor just like our own state Assemblymember Michele Schimel urging voters to “Vote DiNapoli for comptroller to various weekly newspapers. Most incumbent Democratic Assemblymembers between gerrymandered districts, feeble non existent Republican opponents had plenty of time to campaign for DiNapoli.

Can Comptroller DiNapoli hold fellow Democrats Gov. Cuomo, Speaker Silver and the next state Senate majority leader accountable to honest finances along with avoiding waste, fraud and abuse. Will he speak up against the Albany infamous “Three Men In The Room” negotiating the budget behind closed doors?

Time will tell if DiNapoli will be a true profile in courage or just another politician looking for his ticket to be punched for re election in 2014.

Larry Penner

Great Neck

 

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