NY Times reports that Sheldon Silver will be replaced as speaker of the NY State Assembly and Assemblyman Joseph Morelle will become the interim speaker starting next week. Notably, Morelle sponsored a bill that would legalize professional mixed martial arts in the state.
Notably, in the first half of January 2013, records show that Zuffa contributed $2,500 to the re-election campaign of Assemblyman Joe Morelle. Zuffa also contributed the same amount to Joe Griffo, another New York state senator that, along with Morelle, has sponsored a bill to legalize the sport in the state.
Morelle, who is the majority leader of the state Assembly, will be one of several lawmakers vying for the permanent role of speaker. According to Jim Genia, Morelle, Assemblyman Keith Wright, Assemblyman Joe Lentol, Assemblyman Denny Farrell and Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan are candidates for Silver’s former position. Per Genia, Assemblywoman Nolan is the only one to come out against the sport. The NY Times also names Assemblyman Carl Heastie as a possible contender for the speaker positions as well. According to a report, Zuffa donated $500 to Heastie in 2013.
Payout Perspective:
The Assembly plans to elect its permanent speaker on February 10th. The prospects look good that New York may get a speaker that has supported MMA in the past. While this does not necessarily mean that the speaker will be able to get a law passed legalizing MMA, if a pro-MMA assembly person becomes speaker, there should not be an issue with getting a vote on a bill legalizing MMA in the state.
At this point. A lot of fans are not excited anymore on mma being sanctioned in ny…its been years already since dw was leading his followers to the world domination promise land but cant get sanctioned in new york hahahaha