"You made deals that served your constituents and you kept your mouth shut."

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver became the state's most powerful lawmaker by practicing politics the old-fashioned way -- rewarding friends, punishing enemies and keeping words to a minimum. Silver, 70, accused by federal prosecutors of using his power to gain millions of dollars in undeserved legal referral fees, used his political skills to tend to two distinct constituencies: the 150-member assembly's Democratic majority and his ethnically diverse district in lower Manhattan.

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