The political culture of Albany was wielded as a shield in Sheldon Silver’s defense: If Mr. Silver, the former State Assembly speaker, wrapped himself in financial conflicts of interest and collected millions of dollars in outside income, his lawyers argued, that did not make him a criminal.
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“That is the system New York has chosen,” one defense lawyer said.
With Mr. Silver’s conviction on Monday, a federal jury rejected that argument, bringing one of the state’s most enduring political careers to a humiliating end, stripping Mr. Silver of the legislative seat he had held since Abraham D. Beame was mayor of New York.
Less certain than Mr. Silver’s downfall, however, are the implications of his conviction in Albany.
Albany on Trial
After a decade in which the state capital was rocked by a seemingly endless barrage of scandals and arrests involving officeholders, a former legislative leader was found guilty this week in a federal corruption trial. The corruption trial of another former state leader is in its third week.