silver and skelos, lansman and yet neither of them cares that when tracks are running across the country ny otbs mus be open. see opinion of counsel for nyc otb ira block, ny const art 1 sec 3 etc
the jew snd the gentile met in spirit years ago at a meeting of the board of directors of nassau otb at the race palace when one attendee said to barry yomtov you are sheldon silver's boy and he replied to joseph caito, you are dean skrlos' boy
there are those of us who work at nassau otb more than linda mangano style snd suffice to say if the inmates ran the asylum it would run dmoother and with more attention to bettors et al than it has for many years under both parties
in sentencing the jew and the gentile many useful changes could be made perhaps with a few phone calls
sheldon silver's lawyers are simply high oriced errand boys who well know that litigation is the only civilized alternative to force when there is no one to communicate common sense?
ask the errand boys when easter sunday is in 2018 as the term is used in ny pml sec 109. the employees of nassau otb and nyc otb, now deceased , may be late in making their views known to the judge but they have much to say about the jew and the gentile who controlled nassau otb for many years and continue to do so?
What Sentence Should Sheldon Silver Get? His Lawyers Get CreativeClaude Solnik
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Can a criminal be sentenced to run a “help desk”?
Sheldon Silver, the former powerful speaker of the New York State Assembly who was convicted of public corruption charges in May, hopes so.
Mr. Silver, 74, is to be sentenced on July 27 in Manhattan, and federal prosecutors asked the judge on Friday to impose a sentence “substantially in excess” of 10 years.
But Mr. Silver’s lawyers had a more creative proposal for how he could pay his debt to society.
After a “meaningful custodial sentence,” they suggested, he should be ordered to perform “rigorous” community service, like running a special help desk.
In that role, they said, he would be helping New Yorkers “navigate their way through the state bureaucracy to answer their questions, and maximize their chances of receiving benefits to which they may be entitled.”
ADVERTISEMENT
He would be expressing his remorse, they said, and using “his unique skills to assist his fellow New Yorkers.”
Indeed, obtaining benefits for himself and others is something Mr. Silver has shown a talent for.
Evidence at the trial showed Mr. Silver obtained nearly $4 million in illicit payments in exchange for taking actions that helped a prominent cancer researcher at Columbia University and two real estate developers.
Mr. Silver arranged, for example, for the State Health Department to award two grants totaling $500,000 to the researcher Robert N. Taub. In return, Dr. Taub referred cancer patients with legal claims to the law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, which gave Mr. Silver a portion of its fees.
Mr. Silver, a Democrat, was originally convicted in 2015 and sentenced to 12 years by the judge, Valerie E. Caproni of Federal District Court. After his conviction was overturned on appeal, he was retried this year and found guilty.
“Mr. Silver is a broken man,” his lawyers wrote. “He has been humiliated and disgraced. Most of his assets are gone, either to forfeiture or fine.”
ADVERTISEMENT
But he “is also an intelligent man, with virtually unparalleled knowledge of New York State government,” they noted. Their proposal would allow the judge to exercise discretion “in a way that punishes Mr. Silver, but takes advantage of his unique talents and still affords the possibility of his living the end of his life in freedom.”
Mr. Silver, in a one-page letter to the judge, said the work that had been “the focus of most of my life has become dirty and shameful. Everything I ever accomplished has become a joke and a spectacle.”
He worried about his wife and his grandchildren, he said, “and how they will be treated because of me.” He also was concerned about his own age and health, adding, “I pray I will not die in prison.”
Follow Benjamin Weiser on Twitter:@BenWeiserNYT.
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: Sentenced to Run a ‘Help Desk’? Creative Ideas From Silver’s Lawyers. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
No comments:
Post a Comment