By Tom Precious
ALBANY – He’s not necessarily aligning himself with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but Buffalo developer Carl Paladino this morning is blasting Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s demands that the Legislature have a say in the placement of any new casinos in New York.
Paladino, who ran against Cuomo in 2010, said Silver’s opposition is predictable to a plan by Cuomo to have a state gambling regulatory agency – and not the Legislature – run a bidding process if New York does change the constitution to permit up to seven new casinos in the state.
“We’ve seen this before. It’s the Albany two-step," Paladino said.
“Cuomo has this idea and now they want to share the pork. We know the Legislature doesn’t have a mind of its own. The only mind it has is Sheldon Silver,’’ he said, adding that political contributions will have to flow from casino developers to the Legislature if it has a say in the selection process. “This is a way for Silver to stay in the way so he can make the Assembly political nice and big,’’ Paladino said.
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