Since New York State’s lawless legislature and gutless governor have proven themselves unwilling or impotent to remove sleazy, shameless Sheldon Silver from his position as Assembly Speaker, someone has to do something to “punish” him for his egregiously unethical role in the disgraceful Vito Lopez affair. It appears that I may be the only person who can do it; so I’m hereby demanding publicly that Mr. Silver give me back the “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need, and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber” t-shirt that I gave him as a gift on March 3, 1995. This was in the early days of his role as Speaker, and I had no way of knowing how embarrassing his tenure would turn out to be. I know it is unethical to ask someone to return a gift you voluntarily gave them, but Mr. Silver has demonstrated that he is not governed by ethics anyway. So, Sheldon, either resign your speakership or return my shirt!
Richard Siegelman
