State Assemblyman Stephen Katz (R-Yorktown) has written to his colleagues in the house urging them to replace Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver with a new leader.
Silver presides over the heavy Democrat majority in the Assembly and has come under criticism in recent months by members of both his own party and the Republicans for what Katz called his actions “in covering the sexual improprieties of Assemblyman Vito Lopez with taxpayer dollars by means of the ‘Miscellaneous Contractual Services’ account.”
Katz acknowledges the Republicans don’t have the votes for a change in leadership, but he believes there will added support for such a move.
“I have a feeling that there are more Democrats that share this sentiment than anyone would think right now because I am confident that the Democrats themselves have integrity,” he said. “This is not a partisan issue. I am not asking for there to be a Republican speaker of the Assembly. I am asking to put someone in who has integrity; who would know the right from wrong.”
Katz’s letter to his fellow Assembly members said that “While we may disagree on how to govern, the people of the State of New York deserve to have an open, honest, and transparent government.”
