Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

With Sheldon Silver Out As Speaker, Isn't It Time To Show Merryl Tisch The Door Too?

Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch was re-elected to the Board of Regents in April 2011 to a five year term.

Her patron, then-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, announced her re-election in a release here.

Silver is facing charges on corruption and fraud and may soon be in prison.

He's also facing a coup from his Assembly Dems.

It was reported tonight that he will be forced from the speakership by Monday if he hasn't formally resigned by then.

Now Tisch is Shelly's pal, they know each other from the old days on the Lower East Side.

She's faced a lot of criticism for her handling of the Common Core roll-out, her oversight (or lack thereof) of the charter school approval process, and the reform agenda she has pushed on the state.

But she serves as Regents Chancellor because Silver wants her there and has used his enormous influence and power to keep her there.

Carol Burris wrote a blog piece back in December that concluded Tisch would remain in power despite her failures as chancellor because of this:

Given the current system of appointment, Merryl Tisch, who has wealth and deep political connections, will likely remain in power. She is married to billionaire James S. Tisch, the CEO of the Loews Corporation, and has been a friend since childhood of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who controls the appointments through the votes of the Assembly. The people of New York have no direct mechanism to have her removed.

Tisch still remains wealthy and married to that source of wealth - that part of the power dynamic hasn't changed.

But with her ally Silver disgraced and soon to be gone from power, there looks like there will be a real shot to show Merryl Tisch the door next year.

She was re-elected in April 2011 to a five year term - she'll face another election in April 2016.

We should start mobilizing opposition to her as Regents Chancellor now, parents and teachers, so that her Reign of Error at the Board of Regents can be ended.

9 comments:

  1. Feckless corporate stooges.

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  2. Do you have any inkling who the Assembly might pick as their next speaker? Just picking your very savvy political mind.

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    1. Supposed to be Joe Morelle of Rochester and Keith Wright of Manhattan, both Cuomo allies, Carl Heastie of the Bronx (who labor seems to want and de Blasio's pushing for behind the scenes), and Joe Lentol of Brooklyn.

      Heastie is said to have nearly enough votes to pull it off - he has his Bronx County pols + the Queens Dems.

      Somebody was sending out anonymous emails about Heastie to press members today, saying they had "damaging info" about him - so clearly he must be a threat to somebody.

      I dunno - it's all a mystery to me how its going to play out.

      Two things I know - Cuomo will try and move this process to his benefit and Cuomo's pissed that his "agenda" has been lost to first the Silver arrest and fallout and now the Silver succession battle.

      Has anybody in the mainstream even mentioned his ed agenda since the Silver arrest (other than to opine on how the arrest might affect its passage)?

      Cuomo's State of the State/budget address is a week old, but it feels like ancient history so much has happened since.

      Cuomo CAN'T be happy about that.

      Might do a post about this for tomorrow.

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  3. Meryl Tisch has sullied the reputation of the New York State Regents.

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    Replies
    1. Given some of the other members, that was hard to do. Then came the "spiritual weight loss Regent" and it all seemed to fit...

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  4. It would be a welcome sight to the people of New York to see Tisch escorted out, the same way as Silver, in handcuffs and under arrest.

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  5. Nothing will happen to her. Nothing will happen to Cuomo.

    Cuomo will get his way and that's that...that was the line stated after Tommy was shot in Goodfellas.

    Only chance we have are the affluent areas waking up to protest.

    We are done!

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