The Remarks Of Speaker Sheldon Silver

Law Enforcement Officers Union, Council 82

L.O.B., Hearing Room "C," Albany, NY
Monday, May 15, 2006 [Noon]

President Jim Lyman. Members of Council 82.

On behalf of the New York State Assembly, I welcome the Law Enforcement Officers Union to our State Capital. It's good to have the everyday heroes of Council 82 here in Albany, and it's great to see you addressing your concerns here with your state government leaders on these annual lobby days.

Personally speaking, it is good to see my friend Jim Lyman again.

As you can imagine, I meet with the leadership of literally hundreds of organizations each year and none has a truer, more capable, more respected leader than you have in Jim Lyman.

In the world of politics, it is very easy to give in to the temptation to play games and to jump into the "dog pile." It takes backbone, it takes character, it takes a commitment to getting things done for your people, that separates a real leader from everyone else.

In my book, Jim Lyman is a real leader.

As you know, back in December of 2005, the Governor and the Legislature toughened the penalties for assaulting a police officer. We also strengthened the penalties for gun trafficking.

Then, victory was declared by the Governor as if we had done all that we could do. In reality, these actions represent only a first step.

Yes, we closed the front door on gun trafficking, but right now in Albany, the NRA is keeping the back door wide open to illegal guns.

Everyone knows that we need action from the President and from Congress to get illegal guns out of our communities. Unfortunately, because the radical gun lobby is more important to Washington than is public safety, no federal law exists requiring national firearms registration.

In fact, a "stealth" amendment in a federal budget bill actually prohibits U.S. law-enforcement agencies from sharing gun-tracing information. Meanwhile, out-of-state gun sellers are flooding our neighborhoods with illegal firearms.

This is a perfect illustration of what's wrong with the gun debate in government.

It is hard to talk sensibly about gun violence, when we have political leaders who think stem cells are more threatening than assault weapons.

It is hard to talk sensibly about gun violence when political leaders think it makes sense to provide law enforcement officers bullet-proof vests, but permit the sale of armor-piercing bullets.

It is hard to talk sensibly about gun violence when political leaders use violent crimes as a springboard to attract media attention with their calls for fierce penalties.

Where are the headlines and the editorials demanding action to keep our law enforcement officers from being attacked in the first place? Why is there no media outcry for that?

We are trying to get the Governor to support our gun violence package.

We are trying to get the Senate to join us in conference committee so that we can hammer out legislation that will keep law enforcement officers safer when you're on the job.

We need your help to bring these important issues to the forefront of the public debate.

I raised these questions at last week's Police Officers Memorial Service:

Is this government doing everything we can to protect our law enforcers? Are we striving to be worthy of their sacrifices?

I believe that this government needs to do much more to prove its worthiness to the men and women whose names are carved into that wall.

So, we will continue to take actions to help make you safer. We will continue to take actions to make your jobs easier. And, we will continue to address the labor issues that ensure fairness and equity for all of the members of our law enforcement community.

For example, we strongly support giving "police officer status" to our forest rangers.

We strongly support allowing binding arbitration for forest rangers, and forest ranger captains.

We strongly support the transfer of State University and City University police officers into the Police and Fire Retirement System. It is an important incentive to recruit and retain officers to serve on our SUNY and CUNY campuses.

You have strong and influential leadership in the Assembly Majority in:

• Assembly Member Joe Lentol, the Chair of our Committee on Codes;

• Assembly Member Peter Abbate, the Chair of our Committee on Governmental Employees;

• Assembly Member Susan John, the Chair of our Committee on Labor.

As Jim Lyman can attest, my door is always open to Council 82, and the doors of the Assembly Majority are likewise open to you. So, please, take advantage of that invitation, and please use this lobby day to advance your agenda.

Your safety, your well-being, your dedication are paramount to this State and to our future.

Thank you again for being here. Thank you for listening. And thank you for keeping our neighborhoods and communities safe every minute of every day.

Thank you.