There's much hand-wringing and tut-tutting from the elites about Shelly Silver and why he not only survives but prospers as the speaker of the Assembly. The answers are simple and clear, if anyone is willing to listen to them.
I spent a long time in the Assembly and worked with Shelly on lots of things and supported him from when he took over after the death of Saul Weprin in 1994, to the infamous Michael Bragman coup attempt in 2000, to when I left in 2011.
I like him. He's not perfect, and he knows it. There are things he should do differently. But he's entitled to judgment on the record, and he has not been getting that. The simple reason he stays in power is that he is very good at his job, and the Assembly members know it.
First, he's the best negotiator in Albany. For years, as leader of an institution without a lot of constitutional power, he's beaten governor after governor in difficult budget negotiations. The Democratic conference has strong opinions on things like education funding, and civil rights and liberties, and progressive tax policies and a million other things.
The conference expects that these things will become law. They have, mostly. The details are many, from universal pre-K, to upper-income tax surcharges, to abortion rights and gay marriage.
In my case, I worked long and hard to reform state authorities. When I needed him, he was there. Other committee chairs and rank-and-filers have the same experience.
Second, he protects the members and the conference. He takes bullets meant for the group. Be it congestion pricing or fighting with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg or fending off governors (see Spitzer, Eliot; attack on Democratic assemblymembers) he is the target, not individuals. And this comes with a cost to him.
Third, he's as shrewd a judge of political dynamics as exists. If you think back, under five governors, he understood that each one gets a honeymoon, when the honeymoon ends and how to step back into the ring. Timing, timing, timing. It's worked every time.
He is not perfect, as I said. It would be better if he was a little more communicative, if his staff had a little less power, and if there were working public relations strategies. But when you set these concerns against his strengths, Shelly wins.
The problem for the press and the political elites is that their analysis of Albany starts with a set of negative assumptions about the Legislature. The members are sheep or corrupt, the system doesn't function, it's all about re-election.
There's plenty to discuss about those things, but they are emphatically not the essential truth. For 20 years the Assembly has been the only reliable progressive force in state government, standing for and achieving remarkable things in education, health care, tax policy, environment, individual liberty and more. Not governors, not the Senate. The Assembly.
The truth is that the most Assembly members give a damn, do their best and get things done: The very things that editorial boards and voters tell us they want. Yet the same forces are the loudest calling for Shelly's scalp. There are other explanations, to be sure. But it's worth considering, for a moment, that Shelly's tenure is a reflection of what elected Assembly members believe is effective and progressive management of a diverse, difficult, hard-working bunch of public servants. They're right.
Richard Brodsky, formerly a state assemblyman, is a fellow at the Demos think tank in New York City and at the Wagner School at New York University.