The Watertown Daily Times on public sector unions,Aug. 1

Representatives of some public sector unions don’t appreciate other groups exercising their right of free speech.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 27 that public sector unions violate the First Amendment when collecting agency fees from non-union members. The unions argued these individuals benefit from the work undertaken to negotiate contracts on behalf of government employees. Union officials believe this ruling will provide an incentive for more members to drop their memberships.

Last month, an organization called New Choice NY sent emails to more than 500,000 government employees who belong to unions. The emails contained a message inviting readers to visit the group’s website, which includes a form letter for people who want to quit their unions.

This didn’t sit well with the leaders of New York State United Teachers. They began using internet resources to urge their members to delete these emails, mark the email address as spam and to return an email to Bob Bellafiore, the longtime political strategist who is overseeing the New Choice NY campaign.

“Every email you send to a teacher, firefighter or police officer in New York shows us the lengths you are willing to go to help wealthy special interests undercut working families,” the prepared message reads in part.

About 1,200 NYSUT members had sent that email message to Mr. Bellafiore as of the afternoon of July 24, according to a New York Times story published Friday in the Watertown Daily Times. The union representing state troopers also requested that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo halt any contracts that state agencies have with Stanhope Partners, which Mr. Bellafiore operates.

Mr. Bellafiore said his group’s goal is merely to inform union members of their rights. Union leaders asserted that the organization is attempting to undermine the strength of unions by persuading more of their members to quit.

Regardless of who’s trying to accomplish what goals, freedom of expression is universal. The public sector unions seem to believe they hold an exclusive right to provide information to their members.

They don’t! And if the benefits of organized labor are as solid as the unions suggest, they needn’t worry about rank-and-file members ripping up their cards.

These unions must compete in a free market of ideas. They should spend their time making the case as to why retaining membership is the best option, not complaining about other groups introducing alternative plans.

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The Post-Star of Glens Falls on former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Aug. 2

Sheldon Silver, the disgraced former speaker of the state Assembly, asked the judge for mercy at his sentencing last week on federal corruption charges. She showed him some, reducing his original 12-year sentence to seven years.

He didn’t deserve it.

We’re all for mercy, but only for criminals whose repentance is genuine and in circumstances when the mercy serves a public purpose.

After decades of lies from Silver, we don’t believe he is sincere. We don’t believe he regrets betraying the public’s trust or the damage he has done to the state’s politics. He regrets getting caught.

“Everything I ever accomplished has become a joke and a spectacle. … I beg for your mercy so that I can somehow go out into the world again to atone to everyone I have hurt,” Silver wrote in a letter to the judge.

We do not believe, given the opportunity, Silver would atone to those he has hurt. The right place for him to atone is alone in his prison cell.

Despite his statements of contrition, Silver has continued to fight the charges and assert he committed no crimes. He has not accepted responsibility for what he did: used his office to funnel contracts to and do favors for people who gave him $4 million in kickbacks.

He has not donated $4 million to the state.

Silver is 74 and has fought prostate cancer. He may die in prison.

“I pray I will not die in prison,” he wrote in his letter.

But accepting the consequences of his shameful behavior, not trying to lessen them, would show remorse.

When Silver was convicted on the same charges in 2015, it was the same federal judge — Valerie Caproni — who sentenced him to 12 years. He was granted a new trial after a Supreme Court decision narrowed public corruption law.

After Silver’s second conviction, Caproni mentioned the other high New York public officials — the former state Senate majority leader, Dean Skelos, and the once-powerful aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Joseph Percoco — who have also been convicted this year in corruption cases. Behind those two is a long line of New York officials who have been indicted, convicted and in some cases served time in prison.

“This has to stop,” Caproni said.

It should stop, but whether it “has to stop” is debatable. The state continues to function — in a dysfunctional fashion — despite being led by a procession of criminals.

If we want it to stop, and we do, then sending the message that corruption convictions will be accompanied by stiff prison sentences could help. Politicians weighing the value of money in their pockets against the possibility of 10 or 15 years in prison might have second thoughts.

Silver, at the peak of state power for decades, was supposed to be a role model. Instead, it’s the consequences of his corruption that send a message to the public. That message should be unequivocal: Crime doesn’t pay.