Silver Opponent Criticizes Pro-Silver Mailers

A primary opponent to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Paul Newell, is decrying pro-Silver mailers by SEIU 1199 and the Greater New York Hospital Association as a scheme by "special interests" to protect Mr. Silver's seat.

"The problem is not the mailer itself, it is the pay-to-play culture in Albany. Silver and Bruno have put the word out that the way to get something from New York State government is to spend big money supporting the status quo," Mr. Newell said in a statement yesterday.

A spokeswoman for SEIU 1199, a union of health care workers, said that the mailer was sent to about 700,000 people across the state as part of an annual tradition of thanking elected officials who support their goals during the budget process.

A spokesman for Mr. Silver, Jonathan Rosen, said yesterday in an interview that Mr. Silver was "proud to stand with the thousands of largely low-wage health care workers who live on the Lower East Side and are members of 1199."