In following the New York State political races, many websites (e.g. Luke Thomas over at Bloody Elbow yesterday) have correctly noted that although Reilly is the most outspoken politician against MMA, the real obstacles to passage of the bill to legalize MMA in the New York Assembly are the Speaker, Sheldon Silver, and the democratic caucus.
I have written a bunch on this, but here is one recent post where I discussed his influence.
As MMAConvert correctly noted yesterday, Sheldon Silver ran unopposed in the 64th Assembly District.
In case you were thinking that he ran unopposed because there was nobody willing to challenge him, think again. In fact, Sheldon Silver ran to court and filed a lawsuit in an effort to keep a Republican opponent, Joan Lipp, off the ballot.
The crux of Silver's claim was that Lipp did not have the required signatures from registered republicans in the 64th Assembly District to be placed on the ballot.
On a related note, if you haven't already, you should check out Luke Thomas' article at Bloody Elbow for a good discussion concerning lobbying efforts to bring MMA to New York.
Fight Lawyer
