Celebrities and politicians make their way to Madison Square Garden for almost every major event, but no VIP gets the royal treatment quite like state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, sources told The Post.
An avid Rangers fan, Silver is a regular at home games, often sitting just seven rows behind the visiting team’s bench, where he has been spotted frequently over the last several weeks by Post reporters and photographers.
Garden officials insist that Silver pays for his tickets. Even so, sources familiar with the inner workings of the Garden have said that in the last four years, Silver has been granted a VIP status that goes beyond what’s afforded to most other special visitors.
The red carpet was rolled out for the powerful Manhattan Democrat as he used his vote on an obscure Albany panel last year to block construction of a competing West Side stadium opposed by the Garden’s parent company, Cablevision, owned by Charles and James Dolan.
More recently, Silver cast his ballot on the Public Authority Control Board to derail a plan to build the Moynihan train station on a site being eyed by the Garden’s owners for a new arena.
On Dec. 20, a Silver delegate is expected to vote on a new Brooklyn arena that would host the NBA Nets and be a potential competitor of the Garden.
At the Garden, the job of taking care of Silver at a Rangers game is considered such a high priority that it has at times fallen to high-ranking political operatives from the Long Island-based Cablevision, the sources said.
“Shelly was in the diplomatic care of Cablevision executives,” the source said, adding that most visiting dignitaries – including Al Gore while vice president and Bill Clinton as a former president – were escorted by a Garden public-relations representative.
“Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer or Mario Cuomo, none of them have been taken care of the way Shelly Silver has,” a source said.
Silver’s special treatment was seen in a private hospitality area at the Garden called Suite 200. Sources said Silver, who follows kosher dietary rules, was feted by Cablevision execs who brought a kosher banquet complete with separate dinnerware.
Garden spokesman Barry Watkins insisted Silver is treated no differently from any other elected official.
“When he attends events, the speaker is responsible for his own tickets. The Garden complies with all applicable lobbying laws and other relevant regulations,” Watkins said.
Earlier this year, Cablevision was socked with a $75,000 fine by the state Lobbying Commission for failing to report Suite 200 soirées for elected officials.
A spokesman for Silver, Charles Carrier, bristled at the suggestion that Silver’s votes were motivated by any factor other than public policy. “That’s absolutely false,” Carrier said. “He’s out there in public discussing issues that come before him. He’s not going to be subject to any other type of contributing factors.”