“I have said from the very moment the news broke that my focus has been on the issues important to my constituents, the residents of the Capital Region, and the state. I wanted to focus on dealing with the budget, education, fairness for the middle and working class, and infrastructure investment. I previously had supported the leadership by committee approach because I felt we did not need to be distracted by a leadership fight, and I had hoped it would provide continuity in working on the issues we need to tackle.”

“However, It has become completely clear over the last couple of days that the Speaker’s legal issues have become a distraction, that we have lost a week of critical time, rather than working on the budget and other issues, and that the Speaker must step down. The vast majority of the Majority Conference is in agreement on this point. I believe that the Speaker should resign as Speaker, we should appoint an interim Speaker to move the conference forward, and that an election for a new Speaker should be scheduled. This is an unfortunate time. I believe Speaker Silver should have every opportunity to defend himself against these charges. But my goal is to get back to work. That’s why I ran 2 years ago, and that’s why I wanted to serve in the legislature.”