Virtually all the Assembly Democrats are supporting Shelly:
“During the immediate fallout after the news of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s arrest, Assembly Democrats held a quick news conference to declare their support for the Manhattan Democrat—before even taking the time to read the complaint … Sources told City & State that Democratic members of the Assembly will close ranks around Silver on Monday and continue to support him …”
There are three reasons they are doing this:
- Shelly has stood by all of them and protected them no matter how egregious their behavior has been.
- They know what happened to Mike Bragman and do not want to cross him in case the legal charges do not stick.
- Shelly likely has dirt on many of them and they do not want him to use any of it an attempt to lessen the charges against himself.