Now that the gay marriage bill passed the Assembly 85 to 61, what’s next?

“It goes to the senate,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told me on his way into the elevator behind the Assembly Chambers. “I’d like them to consider it. They might have the votes.” He went on to say, “There are a lot of issues that take time. Plain and simple.”

Here is Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda and his thoughts on what happens next.

Eliot Spitzer has a message for Shelly Silver: pick a comptroller "from among the three."

Chuck Schumer's book got a nice review from Michiko Kakutani, who Norman Mailer swears "disdains white male authors."

Chris Cillizza plays the expectations game (already!) with Hillary Clinton in Iowa. "She doesn't need to leapfrog Edwards, but she does need to show movement."

The Brooklyn Paper editor in chief responds, politely, to Errol Louis. [Response in the comment section, at the 1:42 mark]

In the Buffalo News, Silver said:

"They can give me whatever they want," Silver said of the three-member panel. "We don't have to listen to them, either."

Asked if that meant the Legislature could deviate from the list the panel recommends, he said, "I'm just saying there's no statute here, and if they don't want to follow the rules, nobody has to follow the rules."

But there's another factor in play. Money.

So he needs Silver. And Silver, perhaps, is simply using this occasion to remind him of that fact.

Here's a picture to keep on the mantle: Andrew Cuomo, Joe Bruno and Shelly Silver chatting at Silver's reception in the capitol after Eliot Spitzer's speech.

The first word of Dicker's story: "Disgraced."

The Times, weirdly, seems to have missed the story. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Shelly Silver will pick the replacement. He will also decide if you get into heaven.

Republicans are worried.

Rudy's planning a visit to New Hampshire.

Christmas card analysis: out. Thank-you note dissection: in.

An elderly part-time employee in Joe Crowley's constituent service shop got in a car accident after leaving the congressman's Christmas party. Her friend, a passenger, was killed. The driver was apparently drunk. This story is very sad.

Virginia Republican Virgil Goode has some problems with the Koran.

Here's what he said earlier today:

"What we are doing is trying to change the paradigm, and by changing the paradigm and leading by example and saying to the legislature, this is the way we believe state government should function."

Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno has already balked at the idea, and Sheldon Silver, as far as I can tell, is still formulating his reponse.

"Some of the issues in there are unique to the executive branch. Its not directed at Shelly Silver. It's directed at George Pataki, who found new and innovative ways to enrich his cronies. "The state legislature has been dysfunctional, but the Pataki administration has been disgraceful."

Silver - one of the three men in a room.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn has collected 3,600 form letters, online and on the street, urging the Public Authorities Control Board to postpone its vote on Atlantic Yards until after "the courts" rule on its eminent domain lawsuit -- which, frankly, could take a few years, especially if the case goes all the way to the Supreme Court.

The letters will be delivered Tuesday.

Jeffries told The Real Estate on Tuesday that he had a conversation about a week to 10 days ago to express many of the same concerns as Assembly members Jim Brennan, Joan Millman and Annette Robinson did. In the order Jeffries mentioned them, his concerns are: building more affordable housing early on as part of the project, the lack of transparency regarding the project's financing, the lack of public involvement, and, upon prompting, its density. Jeffries said that he would speak with Silver again soon.

"I have always felt that eminent domain is one of government's most exceptional powers. I don't believe that a private developer should be able to use it to build a basketball arena." But he also said that the courts should be allowed to decide the issue.

Jeffries, like his colleagues, does favor slowing the approval process down, starting with the Empire State Development Corporation. "I'm not particularly clear they have done all they were supposed to do to make sure they included all the public comments."

Gargano: a popular target

Charles Gargano must be thankful that this week is finally ending: The Atlantic Yards blunder, Shelly Silver's barbs, and, now, from the other end of the state, The Syracuse Post-Standard uncovering a scheme whereby poor upstate towns sold tax breaks to developers for a fee.

Over the past several weeks, The Post-Standard has painted a bleak picture of the Empire Zone program: "None of the 10 businesses that claimed the biggest property tax refunds for 2003 created more than 20 jobs," the paper reports. The whole investigative series can be found here.