Sheldon Silver, 64, has represented the lower East Side of Manhattan in the state Assembly since 1976.  A Democrat, he has been speaker since 1994. He spoke with NYSSBA Senior Writer Marc Humbert on April 15, six days after the state budget was approved.

Q: What is the mood at the Capitol?
A: I think it is upbeat; much better. There is a much more collegial
environment among legislators, among governor’s staff. The ability to work things out is something that people look forward to. Not being dictated to.

Q:The last few months around here – with Troopergate and Spitzer resigning and Paterson talking about extramarital affairs – reflect on that.
A: I think it has brought about a whole series of new challenges in terms of governing New York State. I must tell you that I am amazed that David Paterson was able to step in and, 23 days into his administration, produce a budget and just keep going from there. That’s all I can say. But there were periods of turmoil here, clearly.

Q: When you heard about this story – Spitzer and prostitution – what was your reaction?
A: I thought it was an April Fool’s joke.ool aid increase

School aid increase

Q: The new budget – the record school aid increase – how do you feel about that, the size of it?
A: I think we have to do it. Part of it is still a response to the CFE (Campaign for Fiscal Equity) case. We have to do it on a statewide basis. And, I think it’s an important statement. Educating our chilren should not know the ups and downs of the economic cycle. The future of New York depends on those children, and we can’t tell them, “Sorry, revenue collections aren’t so good this year.”

Q: Why is there such unanimous support? Does it help politically for members trying to get re-elected?
A: Absolutely. That is the No. 1 thing members look at. When those school runs come out – how much did I do over last year? How much am I bringing to the school this year? That’s big.

Tax cap commission

Q: Tom Suozzi is doing the property tax commission. Do you see any way the Assembly Democratic majority would be open to doing a property tax cap of some sort?
A: When you say property tax cap of some sort, you are leaving the issue wide open. The difficulty is without an income limitation, it’s very difficult to keep throwing money into property tax relief. We have proposed over the years circuit breakers which depending on your income that’s how much of a cap you will get. That’s an important factor because we are spending money on people who are making $5 million a year. Giving them property tax relief is not doing anything for people who really need the relief.

The reality is that parents are going to want their kids educated, they want to pay the price (in local school taxes) to have their kids educated and the caps are not going to work. It would be difficult to transition to full funding of education through state resources, which is the alternative.

Q: It sounds like you’re not much of a fan of a property tax cap.
A: I am a fan of it, if it can work. If you can guarantee the resources for the children. If you can guarantee the pre-K education, if you’re going to guarantee the class size, I’m a fan of it. But you have to come up with the money from someplace. That’s the problem.

Q: Is there any way the state can afford to deliver a property tax cut and make up the difference?
A: No. The question is can you impose a school income tax. From a practical political point, I don’t think you can. Other states have tried without success.

Q: But you know from your members about the anti-property tax sentiment that’s out there? What would you tell Suozzi he should do about it?
A: Probably I would tell him to look for a dedicated tax.

Q: Such as?
A: Well, 1 percent on people making over a million dollars.

Q: Would that raise enough?
A: $1.5 billion.

Q: Politically, any way it would happen?
A: I don’t see it being a problem politically. Polling numbers indicate over 80 percent of the public would support it.

The "shares" system

Q: Every year the Regents and some legislators, as you well know, try to change the way school aid is divided among school districts and in the end we always seem to go back to the “shares” system where various parts of the state get a certain fixed percentage of the pie. How do you feel about the geographical distribution of the aid?
A: You know it’s interesting. There’s a fair balance if you look at all the aid across the city and the state. We are one state. That’s the basic problem. We’re one state and you have to look at it that way. It’s clear to me that a lot of revenue goes from downstate to upstate and a lot spending goes to downstate as well.

Q: Do you think that some of the wealthier suburban school districts get too much?
A: They actually don’t. We have complicated formulas that deal with property tax wealth in various areas, the extent of the wealth, the extent that we call upon these people to pay based on the wealth. Again, the fairer thing is clearly an income-based tax. There’s no question about it. From a practical political solution, I don’t think the state is ready to assume the local burden.

Tenure and the teachers’ unions

Q: The budget got held up this year because of the dispute over the tenure question, and editorial writers across the state, as you know, said that it showed the power exerted by the teachers’ union. How powerful are the teachers’ unions?
A: It’s not a question of how powerful the teachers’ union is, it’s also a question of what’s right and wrong, and I think we wound up with a good compromise on that particular issue. I think we crafted a solution that didn’t satisfy anybody. But that’s usually a good solution, when all the parties aren’t that happy with it.

Q: Are the teachers’ unions politically very powerful?
A: There’s no question about it. The teachers’ unions are politically powerful. They have a large membership. They have a large retiree base and their people are located all across the state. They impact many school districts, many elections areas – Assembly districts and Senate districts – as a result. They tend to be more active politically than most other professions in the state.

The economy

Q: A number of people, including Governor Paterson, have expressed real concerns about the economy and Wall Street and all the money that Wall Street generates for the state.
A: Let me remind you and all of your readers that the Assembly is the one who came out and said Governor Spitzer overestimated revenues. We, in our economic forecast, came in $600 million below Governor Spitzer. First, the Senate was saying we didn’t put enough in. We came out and said it was too optimistic a revenue forecast. We believe we face an uncertain quarter or half a year as a state and then there will be a recovery in the third or fourth quarter of our state fiscal year.

Q: You think there will be any need to come back mid-year to revisit the budget?
A: I don’t believe we’ll have a need to come back.

Q: What about 2009 for a budget year?
A: It’ll probably be a difficult year.

Q: Have you thought about retirement at all?
A: Senator Bruno is 79 years old. So I have told him that I have to see what it’s like when I get to his age. I’ve got awhile to go.