Silver’s $79,222 state pension is safe

Pension forfeiture will be on the ballot in November in the form of a proposed amendment to the state constitution. Two successive sessions in Albany have now passed a resolution subjecting the pension benefits of convicted legislators and state officers to court-reviewed reduction, meaning that voters now have the chance to directly approve the measure.

But there’s a loophole for our neighbor Sheldon Silver, convicted in 2015 on federal corruption charges: the new rules would apply only to crimes committed on or after January 1, 2018.

Sheldon Silver currently lives at home, awaiting appeal, collecting a state pension of $79,222. Even if this constitutional amendment is approved, and even if Silver starts to serve out his 12-year prison sentence, New York taxpayers will continue to pay.