Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver strongly defended his tenure amid new corruption scandals and insisted Gov. Cuomo is not trying to topple him from office.
“I spoke to the governor. We are working as partners,” Silver said before an event at Century 21 Dept. Store downtown.
And Silver said he shouldn’t be held culpable for corruption committed by a few ” rotten apples” in the Assembly under his watch.
He was responding to the bribery indictment the feds filed last week against Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson. Another Bronx assemblyman under indictment, Nelson Castro, was a cooperating witness.
“I don’t feel any responsibility. I don’t interview people (when they run for office) in the Assembly,” he said.
“In any group there are rotten apples,” he said.”It’s unfortunate that it happened.”
Silver vowed to push for legislation for public financing campaigns as a way to stem corruption by limiting the influence of big donors.