Sheldon Silver, the convicted former Assembly Speaker, has been sentenced on crimes of public corruption today. The sentences proposals ranged from the federal request of 10-plus years in prison to the curious request from Silver’s own attorneys about running a special help desk.

“I was stunned at the proposal from Silver’s camp to let him run a particularly stressful helpdesk,” DiPietro said. “When you become the symbol of corruption in Albany and do everything in your power to use your position for personal gain against the public interest, you should be punished accordingly. Not be given a ‘rigorous’ position of running a help desk to use his ‘unique skillset’ to help New Yorkers.

“He was given the chance to help New York many times, instead he decided to steal taxpayer money and break the public trust now it’s time for him to pay the price. I am pleased by the court’s decision to follow through with conventional jail time; hopefully this will serve as a rallying call for reform in Albany.”