Welcome to the board, Sue. Actually, when I was reading your post I thought it was the Don because of the Yankees avatar. Threw me for a loop there.

Anyway, I seem to recall that in one of the earlier seasons someone mentioned how Tony grew up with Silvio or knew him when he was younger, while Paulie was a guy that came up with Johnny Boy Soprano's crew. I think that it would be very logical for Tony to choose an old friend as his consigliere, rather than one of his pop's old soldiers.