Dan Cantor is a great guy and does a lot for progressive values here in New York. Though as he points out, no politician is perfect and he screwed up by trying to compare Sheldon Silver with the liberal lion Ted Kennedy. Mr. Cantor, I am sorry but lending Teddy's good name to one of the three men in the room up in Albany is just ridiculous.
From The NY Observer:
Sometimes the candidate who'll fight for working families is a challenger, sometimes it's an incumbent who's been doing it for years. Think about Teddy Kennedy if you want the best example of such a person at the national level.
Time after time, on the crucial fights of the day - Silver has been the most important leader standing up to right-wing corporate power. He beat back Republican attempts to end rent regulation, slash public schools, and reduce access to healthcare coverage. He actually believes that the government has a role to play in making sure everyone has a decent shot in life. That's not trivial.
Just last session, he led the way on legislation to create a paid family leave program, to expand affordable housing, to cut taxes on working families and raise taxes on millionaires, and to create a public campaign finance system that would finally end the dominance of big money in Albany.
Shelly Silver isn't perfect - no politician is. But those bills could become law next year if the State Senate flips, and Shelly's leadership is there to get it done. (more on why the WFP endorsed Silver)
Now Silver isn't all bad, he has done some good things in over three decades. He is a Democrat of course. Yet when you look at the grand scheme of things, Silver is a reinforcement of the status quo in Albany where nothing gets done. Silver may have led the way on the legislation mentioned above, but for the most part bills die in the Assembly overwhelmingly not because of the will of the Assembly but because Silver says so. He has an enormous amount of power based on the arcane and anti-Democratic rules of the legislative body. He has and will do anything to hold onto that power and that is why all candidates are working so hard now before election day, one for the status quo and the others that fight for the change we so desperately need.
Silver certainly can fight, but more so like a hyena than a lion.
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