Carl Paladino Calls on Speaker Silver to Resign

Former Republican gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino has joined the slowly growing number of public figures calling on Sheldon Silver to resign as Assembly speaker. In an email to his supporters going out today, Paladino writes, "Silver acknowledged 'a mistake was made.' Was it an intentional mistake? The confidentiality clause, [Silver's] long history of making such 'mistakes' and the BS that other elected officials knew lead one to believe that it was an intentional and unforgivable mistake. What more do you need to demand his resignation?" Paladino, who took flack for calling Silver a "criminal" during his 2010 campaign, predicts that Silver will ultimately skirt any consequences for "bailing out his buddy Vito Lopez" because "the press will let the good old Albany establishment boys bury the issue with a Special Prosecutor investigation that will go on forever and result in nothing." Though Paladino is not running this cycle, he is investing resources and expertise into a slew of primary and general election challenges across the state to rid the state Legislature of "RINOs" (Republicans in Name Only). Reached by phone, Paladino predicted victory for a host of candidates he is supporting, including Johnny Destino, who is challenging Sen. George Maziarz in September; Sen. Stephen Saland's primary opponent Neil Di Carlo; James Blake, who is taking on Sen. James Seward, and Assemblyman Sean Hanna, who is running for the open seat vacated by Sen. Jim Alesi. On the Assembly side, Paladino is pushing David DiPietro in the 147th AD, Kieren Lalor in the 105th, Karen Bisso in the 115th, Bill Nojay in the 133rd, as well as incumbent Assemblymembers John Ceretto and Claudia Tenney. To read more from City & State [click here. ](http://www.cityandstateny.com)