Sultan Sheldon: Ruler of the Empire State

NY Post columnist Bob McManus details how NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has become the most powerful NY State politician since Governor Nelson Rockefeller a generation ago.  The power vacuum created by the resignation of disgraced Governor Eliot Spitzer, and the failure of the hapless David Patterson to step strongly into Spitzer's gubernatorial shoes enabled Silver to seize the reigns of power.  He effectively controls the state budget process, protects the powerful tort-lawyer lobby while pulling in big bucks as a rainmaker partner--sums he adamantly refuses to disclose.  Favors big and small are in the discretion of Sultan Shelly.  Perhaps the Empire State should change its nickname to the Silver State.