Taxpayers continued shouldering costs for Sheldon Silver’s legal defense in the months after he stepped down as Assembly speaker, according to the latest Senate and Assembly expenditure data added to SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s transparency website.
Between April 1 and September 30, 2015, the Assembly paid $227,478 to the law firm Hogan Lovells, which is representing Sheldon Silver in litigation related to sexual misconduct by members of the Assembly.
The data also show:
- Silver’s chief of staff, Judy Rapfogel, remained the highest-paid Assembly employee following Silver’s resignation from the speakership. Rapfogel was paid $90,252 during the six-month period.
- The Senate spent $8,600 on equipment for the legislative gym used by members of both houses.
- The top collector of per diem reimbursements was Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who received $16,325 for legislative duties in Albany during the period.
The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies to make New York a better place to live, work and do business.