Andrew Cuomo Makes Shelly Silver's Witness List

John Riley in Newsday:

Defense lawyers for former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have listed a virtual who's who of Albany politics, including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, as potential witnesses or subjects of testimony at Silver's upcoming federal corruption trial.

Also included on a list of 62 names to ask prospective jurors if they knew are indicted Sen. Dean Skelos, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, lobbyists Pat Lynch and Brian Meara, and high-profile real estate figures such as Larry Silverstein, Leonard Litwin, Steve Spinola and Jack Rudin.

Silver is due to go to trial next month on charges that he did legislative favors for developers and a doctor to generate $4 million in referral fees from two law firms he was affiliated with.

...

The defense list, however, provided a taste of how deeply testimony at the trial is likely to delve into some of the inner workings of the Capitol and its power structure.

In addition to big-name lobbyists and real estate moguls, it included current and former Assembly members, suchas Vito Lopez of Brooklyn, Herman "Denny" Farrell and Keith Wright of Manhattan, and Audrey Pheffer of Queens.

Chris Bragg at the Times Union has been sleuthing out the names - you can see a partial list below.

Jonathan Taub: Robert Taub’s son, whom Silver allegedly helped find a job at a Brooklyn social services group.

Arthur Luxenberg: Partner at Weitz & Luxenberg, where Silver served as “of counsel.”

Perry Weitz: Partner at Weitz & Luxenberg.

“Lenny Litwin”: Head of Glenwood Management, which allegedly hired a small law firm, Goldberg & Iryami, from which Silver then got fees. The first time we’ve seen his name rendered as “Lenny.”

Brian Meara: Top Albany lobbyist close to Silver who is said to have cooperated with federal authorities.

Charlie Dorego: Top Glenwood Management official, cooperating witness in case against ex-Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Silver.

Dean Fuleihan: New York City budget director, former longtime top aide to Silver.

Dean Skelos: Long Island senator, federally indicted Republican former Senate Majority Leader.

Herman (Denny) Farrell: Manhattan assemblyman and chariman of the Ways & Means Committee.

Jack Rudin: may be the chairman Rudin Management Company, a major New York City developer.

Jonathan Lippman: Chief Judge of New York Court of Appeals, childhood friend of Silver. Retiring from bench at end of the year.

Joseph Strasberg: president, Rent Stabilization Association.

Judy Rapfogel: longtime top Silver aide, wife of William Rapfogel.

Keith Wright: Manhattan Assemblyman, chair of housing committee, candidate for Congress.

Larry Silverstein: Owner of major development firm Silverstein Properties.

Solly Assa: A person of this name is a New York City real estate developer.

Steven Spinola: The recently retired president of the Real Estate Board of New York.

Victor Franco: A person of this name has been deputy Budget Director for the Assembly.

Vito Lopez: Formerly powerful Brooklyn assemblyman. Silver faced criticism for a secret settlement regarding sexual harassment claims against Lopez.

Rubin (Ruby) Schron: New York City real estate investor and landlord.

Pat Lynch: Top Albany lobbyist known to be close to Silver.

A commenter at Newsday writes the following:

Any testimony by Jonathan Lippman could get nuclear as it would expose the Cuomo-Silver-Schwartz scammery in open court. It also could show Bharara knows the deal about how Cuomo was operating until just very recently.
 
I wonder what the average Joe is going to think of Albany democrat progressives now when they see who turned the entire state of NY into Detroit and why. I also wonder what the average scuz NY politician will think when they realize the new technology brought to bear on the Three Men in a Room and how clearly it shows the connections.
 
Expect sunlight.

We'll see if we indeed get sunlight.

Make no mistake, given the names on the list, it looks like Silver plans to put the whole system on trial, to say, "Hey, if I'm guilty of crimes, so is the whole system and everybody in it."

Should be fun if Shelly actually goes to trial.