U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara rattled Albany last month when his office arrested former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on charges he orchestrated illegal kickback and extortion schemes that netted him $4 million. 

But Bharara didn’t stop there. He also took a whack at the broader political structure known as the “Three Men in a Room,” in which the governor and legislative leaders keep a tight grip on major political decisions.

It is a paternalistic system – there has never been a woman in the room – that takes a sort of “Father Knows Best” approach to governing: The governor, the Assembly speaker and the Senate Majority Leader meet behind closed doors to make decisions for nearly 20 million New Yorkers.

They include decisions on everything from the location of charter schools, to which guns will be legal and how to spend the state's $141 million budget.

At best, the legislators get to meet with their party leaders in conference meetings to push their priorities. The leaders of the majority party have the most power. This year, the Republicans hold the majority in the Senate, while the Democrats overwhelmingly rule the Assembly.

When the majority party of either chamber meets in conference, it is also in secret. The public cannot listen in on what agenda is being set, or what outside influences – like lobbyists or big donors – are under consideration. The members of the party haggle for favors, and dissenters can pay a price.

Back in 2000, Assemblyman Martin Luster supported then-colleague Michael Bragman in an attempt to overthrow Silver, who was their Speaker. Luster said he paid a price.

“I received a letter … advising me I was no longer chair on a committee on real property on taxation,” Luster told WNYC's Brian Lehrer at the time. He also described having to grovel to Silver for office supplies.

Silver served for 20 years as Speaker until last month, when he was arrested on charges of extortion and bribery. His party ousted him, but he remains in the Assembly as the U. S. Attorney pursues a case against him. Bharara has attacked the entire system.

“If you’re one of the three men in a room, and you have all the power and you always have and everyone knows it,” Bharara told an audience following Silver’s arrest, “you don’t tolerate dissent because you don’t have to. You don’t allow debate because you don’t have to, and because the status quo always benefits you.”

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a non-profit that advocates for transparency in government, said there should be a full, in-public legislative process, including public hearings where people can ask questions on bills, hear debate – and even disagreement — before it is subject to a vote.

State Senator Liz Krueger says the members are to blame. She’s a Democrat who has spent most of her 13-year career in a Republican-controlled senate.

“Over the last 30 to 35 years we have a seen the rules evolve such that individual members give almost all of their power up to the leaders,” Krueger said. “But it’s not just the fault of the three men. It’s the rank and file in the majority party in each house saying okay, we’re going to let the leader make all the decisions for us and we’re going to choose to sit in the sidelines.”

Lawrence Norden, director of The Brennan Center for Justice, which has been documenting dysfunction in Albany for years, said there is a payoff for the legislators who allow the practice to continue. It lets them "off the hook,” he said.

"There is a lot of benefit to individual members to not having to be the lightning rod for decisions," he said.

Silver’s successor is Carl Heastie, a Democrat from the Bronx. He did not respond to requests for an interview. But his first day on the job, he did not appear to be in any rush to disrupt the system.

“I think the three Men in a Room are a little overstated,” Heastie said in his first press conference as Speaker. “This conference has always given its leader the ability to go with the message that the conference has given.”

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Long Island Republican, echoed Heastie's position. Cuomo’s spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.