I would like someone to explain to the taxpayers of this state why our hard-earned tax money was used to pay off the victims of Assemblyman Vito Lopez and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's flunky, Michael Boxley. Mr. Silver not only engineered these payoffs, but he also included "confidentiality agreements" in an effort to keep the sordid messes hidden from the taxpayers.
Those payoffs in no way benefited the taxpayers of this state; they were for the sole benefit of Silver, Lopez and Boxley. Why didn't they pay for their own cover-ups instead of foisting them off on taxpayers?
The rest of our Legislature became all apologetic about this after the fact, but it is noted that none of them proposed anything in the form of a practical remedy. The chance of anything like a meaningful remedy is laughable because none of our elected officials will change any laws that they may need for their own defenses at some future date.
R. Lee Bowen
Saratoga Springs