Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Ready To Kill MMA Bill In New York Assembly

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver made public comments yesterday that he believed the bill to legalize mixed martial arts (MMA) that’s moving it’s way through Assembly committees in the state of New York lacks the support it needs for full passage. Even though fellow Assembly members are dismayed at Silver’s clear attempt to torpedo the bill, that doesn’t mean he won’t:

But can he kill the bill before it even reaches the Assembly floor? Even if all of the committees approve the bill, he can still prevent the larger legislative body from weighing-in on the issue? Yes. Yes, he can:

As MMA Fighting reported last year, Silver is considered the most powerful man in the state capital, a title agreed upon by both The New York Times and The New York Post. Due to the overwhelmingly Democratic-controlled Assembly, Silver has huge sway over what bills get introduced for a full vote, and which stall out before ever reaching that point. He has the power to greenlight a bill through traffic, and create gridlock where there is none. Dr. Douglas Muzzio, a professor at New York’s Baruch College and longtime political analyst, told MMA Fighting last October that “nothing happens legislatively in the New York State Assembly” without Silver’s OK. By virtue of his statement about MMA, it nearly guarantees the bill won’t see the Assembly floor for a full vote.
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The bad news gets worse, folks. Silver was just re-elected last November, so next year, we get to do it all over again.

Because of entrenched political power, effective grass roots electoral canvassing, and perverse laws defining power sharing in the various state’s legislative bodies, Sheldon’s position in the state Assembly not only makes him the most powerful lawmaker in the state, relatively speaking. It also makes him the sentinel at the gate of legislative approval for MMA, absolutely speaking. With his effectively unchecked capacity to kill whatever regulation he views as unfavorable - particularly vanity legislation that lacks clear popular appeal and isn’t essential to economic growth - there has to be nothing short of regime change or the real threat of it to change the current dynamic:

So if he can’t be defeated at the voting booth, how about merely pushing Silver out of his powerful perch atop the assembly? His members claim to be angry that he kept them in the dark during the budget dealings. But they grumbled a lot in 2000, too, and even attempted a coup; Silver quickly squashed it and ran its leader out of town. And the current hurt feelings will vanish very quickly when the checks start to arrive in Democratic districts all across the state. Critics may decry it as pork, the money being spent on the Urban Yoga Foundation, the American Association for the Improvement of Boxing, and a museum of brick-making; others, particularly the defenders of worthy projects that are receiving taxpayer funding, see the individually modest grants as democracy in action. But there’s one sure way to look at the $170 million in “member items” included in the supposedly hard-times budget: It’s Sheldon Silver’s insurance policy. He’s not going anywhere he doesn’t want to go anytime soon.

If there’s any consolation in this story, it’s that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has similar powers in the U.S. Senate. If there’s troubling legislation brewing in Senate committee that needs floor votes to move to the House, Reid can kill it. However, there is more visibility to Reid’s tactical decisions as well as greater political costs for misstep.

Continue to follow this StoryStream as we follow the UFC’s push to have MMA regulated in New York.