ALBANY – One day after beating back a coup attempt, an unrepentant Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver promised yesterday no major changes in the way he runs his house.
During a raucous Capitol press conference, Silver said he feels “stronger” in his leadership position, even though 20 percent of the Assembly’s 98 Democrats publicly pushed for his ouster on Monday.
“We cut the cancer out of the leadership team,” the Manhattan Democrat said of Michael Bragman, who was stripped of his title as majority leader last week after organizing the rebellion.
But a number of Democrats – including some of Silver’s supporters – privately say the speaker’s standing may have been only temporarily salvaged.
His two-year term as speaker ends in December, and he will need broad support among Assembly Democrats to serve again.
Surrounded by more than 50 supporters, a feisty Silver made his first public comments since Bragman last week announced his intention to become speaker.
Silver said that Bragman’s introduction Monday of a proposed rule change to force an immediate vote for a new speaker was “four years in the making.”
He said that despite warnings, he “chose not to believe” that Bragman might plot against him, and didn’t remove him sooner because “I’m a nice guy.”
Silver denied he and his supporters threatened Democrats who sided against him with potential primaries and the loss of lulus and staff.
A number of Democrats, including Assemblyman Jake Gunther of Sullivan County, continue to insist they were “deluged” by threatening phone calls from Silver’s staff.
“I didn’t appreciate it,” Gunther said. “It really upset my family.”
Silver, whom critics have accused of being autocratic and secretive, said he planned yesterday to begin reaching out to the 19 members who moved against him.
But even as he talked about “healing” his fractured conference, he said that very few of the dissidents have “legitimate criticisms.”
He spoke generally about making the legislative process more open, but gave no specifics nor any indication he believes the system is in need of repair.
He also failed to endorse any of the reforms being pushed by Bragman and his supporters, calling Monday’s dramatic action “a power play that morphed into reform.”
The open criticism by his own members, he said, “always gives you cause for introspection, both in terms of who you trust, who you don’t trust, how you operate and how you communicate.”
Bragman, meanwhile, vowed to continue to fight for changes in how the Assembly runs.
He accused Silver of allowing a paid lobbyist to work with staff to develop Assembly policy while freezing out most rank-and-file lawmakers. Bragman called the practice “unethical.”
Silver dismissed the accusation as “unequivocally not true.”