Following the ousting of disgraced former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for accepting illegitimate funds, it was largely believed to be a formality that mixed martial arts (MMA) would finally be legalized in the Empire State, the only one still left in the United States that to not allow pro MMA bouts. However, the UFC
Following the ousting of disgraced former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver for accepting illegitimate funds, it was largely believed to be a formality that mixed martial arts (MMA) would finally be legalized in the Empire State, the only one still left in the United States that to not allow pro MMA bouts.
However, the UFC had met significant resistance nonetheless, and that was mainly in the form of the issue actually being brought up to vote. It is believed that it will be brought to a vote — where it’s expected to be overwhelmingly approved — but that didn’t stop some of the NY Assembly members from taking some absolutely ridiculous stances on the sport today.
That was never more evident than when former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, who has been heavily instrumental into MMA’s legalization efforts in his home state, posted a deserved response to a previous tweet by NewsDay Sports’s Mark La Monica describing the scene where Assembly member Daniel O’Donnell called MMA “gay porn with a different ending”:
(“And for my next impression, I give you a fish taking a shit.” via The New York Post.)
While we here at Castle CagePotato have been in full blown crisis mode these past few days, there has actually been a lot going on in the MMA world worth talking about. Go figure, right? Most notably, perhaps, is that NY State Assembly and supervillian of MMA, Sheldon Silver, was arrested on corruption charges related to accepting millions of dollars in undisclosed income from an NYC lawfirm. And because I gave you my word that I’d start publishing you Taters if you wrote in, after the jump is one such hot taek on Silver’s arrest, via CP reader Mike Reilly. Enjoy!
(“And for my next impression, I give you a fish taking a shit.” via The New York Post.)
While we here at Castle CagePotato have been in full blown crisis mode these past few days, there has actually been a lot going on in the MMA world worth talking about. Go figure, right? Most notably, perhaps, is that NY State Assembly and MMA supervillian, Sheldon Silver, was arrested on corruption charges related to accepting millions of dollars in undisclosed income from an NYC lawfirm. And because I gave you my word that I’d start publishing you Taters if you wrote in, after the jump is one such hot taek on Silver’s arrest, via CP reader Mike Reilly. Enjoy and continue to #RallyforCagePotato!
Sheldon Silver Arrested for Millions in Bribes and Undisclosed Income
By Mike Reilly
Remember our old buddy Sheldon Silver? He’s that NY State Assembly crank who hates MMA the way grandmas hate computers. (“Spawn of the devil!” as my gam-gam always says. All because she doesn’t know how to send a photo as an attachment.)
In a stunning instance of Things We’ve Known for Years, The Daily News reported last week that Silver was arrested by the FBI for, get this, corruption!
For those of you who may not remember (and those who’ve tried hard to forget), the story goes like this: Every year, Dana and the Fertitta bros. try to appeal a state-wide ban on MMA in New York. And every year, a liver-spotted sack named Sheldon Silver tells them to go f*ck themselves, bureaucratically speaking.
As everybody knows, Silver’s disdain for MMA has nothing to do with MMA itself. The almighty Culinary Union has a beef with the Fertittas relating to their refusal to unionize their Station Casinos in New York and has had Silver drop the hammer on every MMA proposal for the past umpteen years, spiting Zuffa (and Bellator, and everybody else) while denying the state of NY a titload of event revenue.
Unfortunately, Silver’s arrest has nothing to do with the Culinary Union, which would have been a perfect “2 birds, 1 stone” scenario for us vindictive MMA fanboys. The 70-year old Silver was just re-elected to an 11th term a few months back, but now, he’s facing five felony charges related to fraud and extortion, each of which could mean up to 20 years in prison (or 10 more years than he has left on this earth). The charges allege that since the year 2000, Silver “used the power and influence of his official position to obtain for himself millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks…”
The New York Post has some handy bullet points of the naughty things ol’ Sheldon has done. Among the allegations, Silver “took millions of dollars for legal work he did not do” and “directed state funds to a doctor who referred cases to another law firm that paid Mr. Silver fees.” If you’re a glutton for linguistic punishment, you can read the full complaint here.
So…ding-dong the witch is dead? Maybe.
The Speaker of the Assembly more or less decides which pieces of legislation get voted on. Silver’s been in that chair since 1994. He’s one of the most powerful men in the NY State government, and though Silver has agreed to step down while his arrest plays out, he will have a chance to reclaim his position if he beats the charges. And it just so happens that wealthy men and the justice system are not exactly natural enemies.
Plus, there are no clear frontrunners to take Silver’s place even if he was ousted, so there’s no guarantee that we’ll get someone with, you know, a little common sense. After all, before it was Sheldon Silver cock-blocking MMA, we had this guy Bob Reilly (no relation, btw), who you might recall was as uninformed about MMA as he was vehemently opposed to it.
As a New Yorker, I’ve been wishin’ and a-prayin’ for live MMA for a long time now. I’m sick of going over to New Jersey to get my fix. (They have these scary orange guys with spiky hair and you get shot at if you say that Bon Jovi is “just OK”). But the absurdity that is the MMA ban in NY has come to feel like something that’s best put out of mind. Maybe I’ve just been burned too many times. Maybe I heard “Fedor coming to the UFC, for realz this time,” once too often. Maybe I’m all out of hope, is what I’m saying.
For all that Dana White has repeatedly said about being done trying with New York, you can bet that he and the boys will be calling a war council soon.
Give ‘em hell, fellas. Just don’t expect me to hold my breath.
You know, there was a time when we believed that an online petition could change the world. Ah, the naivete of youth. But despite years of UFC lobbying efforts and fan support, MMA is still at square one when it comes to regulation in New York State. In what has become an annual letdown, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver — who has never been an ally of the sport — determined during a closed-door meeting yesterday that a bill seeking to legalize MMA in New York didn’t have enough support to pass. According to a New York Daily News report, the circumstances seemed profoundly shady:
The decision not to bring the bill to the floor helped highlight a growing split between younger members of the Assembly and older lawmakers, insiders said. “[Silver] is still siding with a dwindling number of aging veterans,” one source in the room griped.
The source said after eight people had spoken in favor of legalizing MMA and eight against, Silver called on members who don’t support the bill to raise their hands. About 25 members did. Then he asked for a show of hands of those who support it before saying that it looked even, the source said.
An upstate member who supports the measure complained it didn’t look even to her, the source said…The speaker took another informal vote, with 25 again raising their hands against. The “ayes” seemingly had more than 60, the source said.
Silver then said others had expressed opposition privately and that the votes weren’t there to move the bill.
(Sheldon Silver: Son of a bitch.)
You know, there was a time when we believed that an online petition could change the world. Ah, the naivete of youth. But despite years of UFC lobbying efforts and fan support, MMA is still at square one when it comes to regulation in New York State. In what has become an annual letdown, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver — who has never been an ally of the sport — determined during a closed-door meeting yesterday that a bill seeking to legalize MMA in New York didn’t have enough support to pass. According to a New York Daily News report, the circumstances seemed profoundly shady:
The decision not to bring the bill to the floor helped highlight a growing split between younger members of the Assembly and older lawmakers, insiders said. “[Silver] is still siding with a dwindling number of aging veterans,” one source in the room griped.
The source said after eight people had spoken in favor of legalizing MMA and eight against, Silver called on members who don’t support the bill to raise their hands. About 25 members did. Then he asked for a show of hands of those who support it before saying that it looked even, the source said.
An upstate member who supports the measure complained it didn’t look even to her, the source said…The speaker took another informal vote, with 25 again raising their hands against. The “ayes” seemingly had more than 60, the source said.
Silver then said others had expressed opposition privately and that the votes weren’t there to move the bill.
Afterwards, Silver had the gall to tell the Daily News that he didn’t rule out passage of the bill in the next year or two. (“I think it’s evolving,” he said. “I don’t think two years ago it was a 50-50 proposition.”) Christ, what a farce. Supporters of MMA regulation in the NY Assembly already outnumber detractors by more than 2-1, so it’s clear that the only roadblock here is Silver himself. Whatever the culinary union is paying you, Sheldon, we’ll double it. [Ed. note: Do you accept PotatoBux?]
But there’s another factor at work here — as FightOpinion points out, MMA’s support among New York lawmakers is much higher than the sport’s approval rating among the general public:
Outside of a specific demographic with a profile of a male between the ages of 18-to-34 with questionable employment status, there is no other demographic that exists in New York that backs MMA legislation. The numbers are especially staggering when you consider that women consistently oppose MMA legislation on a 26/60 split. The overall support level of 38% for both men & women has remained consistent for several years now. In fact, the polling data suggests that the more undecided voters hear about MMA legislation in New York, they less they want it…
Instead of looking at trying to win over constituency groups who are not into passing MMA legislation, Zuffa has chosen the traditional top-down, pro-lobbyist, politician-only approach to getting business done in the State Capitol. It has been a costly mistake for the organization, both in wasting their time and especially their money. Instead of building up support the right way by funding grassroots organizations & creating a real, on-the-ground voter demand, Zuffa basically went for a traditional lobbying model that only works when you have voters who support you in the first place and are willing to be active in a big way in contacting their local politicians…
There is time for UFC to alter its political strategy and start making some grassroots in-roads that can match their traditional lobbying efforts. The question is not whether they have the resources to pull it off but rather if they have the will & desire to do so. Right now, Sheldon Silver has the will & desire to keep MMA legislation from passing in New York because his constituents don’t have the will nor the desire to see such legislation get implemented in the first place.
In other words, the UFC must either wait for Silver to retire, or rip up their current lobbying strategy and start over again. Either way, we’re looking at a long fight.
(An artist’s rendering of how Bob Reilly depicted New York would look if MMA was legalized)
Well, supporters put up a valiant fight, but in the end New York State once again cock-blocked the bill to legalize MMA again for another year.
The sad thing is, that bill S1707A never really had a fighting chance once it hit the Ways & Means Committee, where it would stall as the current Senate’s session ended Monday. Last week the Committee’s chairman, Denny Farrell, D-Manhattan, told Politics on the Hudson that he was “looking at” the bill, but admitted he was not a mixed-martial arts fan.
“I don’t think very much of the sport,” Farrell said. “Next we’ll give them clubs with spikes on the end; that will be good.”
(An artist’s rendering of how Bob Reilly depicted New York would look if MMA was legalized)
Well, supporters put up a valiant fight, but in the end New York State once again cock-blocked the bill to legalize MMA again for another year.
The sad thing is, that bill S1707A never really had a fighting chance once it hit the Ways & Means Committee, where it would stall as the current Senate’s session ended Monday. Last week the Committee’s chairman, Denny Farrell, D-Manhattan, told Politics on the Hudson that he was “looking at” the bill, but admitted he was not a mixed-martial arts fan.
“I don’t think very much of the sport,” Farrell said. “Next we’ll give them clubs with spikes on the end; that will be good.”
Good to know Bob Reilly isn’t the only oblivious asshole Democrat in New York Senate.
Well, they say bad things come in threes, and this is the third consecutive year that MMA legalization has been shot down in The Empire State, so hopefully next year. If not, there’s a Senate election slated for November of next year. Vote accordingly.
We know from experience that dealing with government types is shady business, but when idiots like Bob Reilly continue to distort the truth and screw with the livelihoods of countless people in the process, it starts to grate on our nerves.
Reilly was front and centre in the news today telling anyone who would listen that, like he’s been saying for weeks, the MMA legalization bill in New York likely won’t make it to the Assembly floor for a vote because there isn’t enough interest or support for the bill.
“If something does not have the votes to pass, we don’t bother taking it to the floor,” Reilly said.
So rather than prove there isn’t any underhandedness in deciding whether or not there really isn’t enough support for the bill by putting the issue to a vote, the opposition Democrats like Reilly and Speaker Sheldon Silver are likely to stall the bill in the Assembly’s Ways & Means Committee. That kids, is how a bill doesn’t become a law.
(Video courtesy YouTube/StocktonHeyBuddy)
We know from experience that dealing with government types is shady business, but when idiots like Bob Reilly continue to distort the truth and screw with the livelihoods of countless people in the process, it starts to grate on our nerves.
Reilly was front and centre in the news today telling anyone who would listen that, like he’s been saying for weeks, the MMA legalization bill in New York likely won’t make it to the Assembly floor for a vote because there isn’t enough interest or support for the bill.
“If something does not have the votes to pass, we don’t bother taking it to the floor,” Reilly said.
So rather than prove there isn’t any underhandedness in deciding whether or not there really isn’t enough support for the bill by putting the issue to a vote, the opposition Democrats like Reilly and Speaker Sheldon Silver are likely to stall the bill in the Assembly’s Ways & Means Committee. That kids, is how a bill doesn’t become a law.
The bill didn’t even make it onto the Committee’s agenda Thursday, and with time quickly running out for the current session, Reilly is probably high-fiving his cronies as he waits for the inevitable to occur. If the bill isn’t voted on by Monday, it’s another year without MMA in the Empire State.
“All we want up here is a vote,” said Marc Ratner, the UFC’s Vice President of Governmental and Legislative Affairs. “We want it to get to the floor, and let the members vote on it.”
According to the bill’s sponsor, Democrat Assemblyman Steve Englebright, legalizing the sport will mean an economic boom for the State.
“The state is missing out on the revenue which we could use for many other things that we need this year, such as funding for our schools, universities, libraries,” Englebright explained.
Reilly, of course, puts a different spin on it.
“We are trying to eradicate violence in this state, not approve it,” said Reilly. “This is very harmful to the fighters, this is not going to bring money into the state.”
Next on Reilly’s agenda will be having movies, television, video games, hunting, boxing, hockey, football and pro-wrestling banned from New York.
