Albany watch: Sheldon Silver nears record as speaker

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver reached a milestone last week: 20 years as leader of the Democratic-controlled chamber.

Silver (D-Manhattan) is the second-longest tenured Assembly speaker on record. He needs two more years to tie the late Oswald D. Heck, a Schenectady Republican who ran the house from 1937 to 1959.

Heck, incidentally, was the last speaker from upstate.

Silver hasn't said that he would like to match or beat Heck's record. But some insiders think the tenure mark is on Silver's mind. He would have to win only one more election -- this November -- and serve out that two-year term to surpass Heck.

-- Yancey Roy