Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s recent arrest on fraud charges has raised questions about whether he held back in his negotiations over a 2011 rent regulation law.
Tenant advocates have seized on a part of the criminal complaint against Silver that alleges that the speaker made changes to the law, potentially at the expense of thousands of New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments, according to ProPublica. Those changes ultimately became law.
Tenant advocacy groups that lobbied for the bill in 2011 are wondering what really happened, the website reported. The events that led to the revision of the measure are still unknown. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara did not specify which change was made to the bill, according to the website.
“It’s hugely important,” Benjamin Dulchin of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development told ProPublica. “I hope Preet Bharara tells us someday.” [ProPublica] — Claire Moses