If the arrest of Sheldon Silver does nothing else, it highlights how pathetic and unserious Albany’s attempts to address political corruption have been.

The Assembly speaker was arrested on five felony charges stemming from his outside income with the powerhouse law firm Weitz & Luxenberg. “As alleged,” says US Attorney Preet Bharara, “Speaker Silver never did any actual legal work. He simply sat back and collected millions of dollars by cashing in on his public office and political influence.”

Just days before Silver surrendered to the FBI, Gov. Cuomo had himself talked about the problem of pay and politicians.

His plan? A commission that would make recommendations about pay raises for lawmakers. The governor would address this with a two-tiered system that pays a higher salary to lawmakers who have no outside income and a lower salary to those who do.

Anyone see the pattern here? This is a “solution” that works for pols, but not for the people. Because it avoids the only fix that really matters: letting the public know who’s paying their elected representatives, how much they are getting — and in exchange for exactly what.

We have no idea where the charges against Silver will lead. But it’s pretty safe to say he’s not the only lawmaker — and his is not the only party — getting princely sums for outside work no one really knows about.

When what you earn in your law firm dwarfs what you get paid as a legislator, where do you think a pol’s real loyalties will be?

While we’re at it, Silver’s arrest points to another easy fix that ought to be made: ending the system that lets politicians facing criminal investigations pay for their defense out of their campaign funds — as Silver is doing and as Gov. Cuomo is also doing with regard to the federal investigation into his office.

When donors contributed these dollars, they meant it to help the ­recipients get elected and push their ideas through. We doubt they envisioned seeing their contributions go instead to legal defenses to keep the recipient out of jail.

If an accused lawmaker is out of cash, let him raise money from donors explicitly for that purpose.

Point is, what New Yorkers need most from their political system right now is plain old fashioned transparency: Show us the money.

Anything less is more of the same old Albany fraud.