Reality Check: State of corruption.
At the presidential level, Donald Trump is talking about “Crooked Hillary” and Trump is dealing with the Trump University scam, but in New York State, corruption has been institutionalized. The idea of corrupt politicians is not a new one. You may recall learning about the Teapot Dome scandal and Tammany Hall in history class. Teapot Dome involved bribes to a cabinet official over oil leases. Tammany Hall was the long-standing Democratic political machine in New York City that held sway in both Manhattan and Albany. Tammany held power through patronage; party members were rewarded with jobs. Civil service and employment based on merit were seen as the remedy to patronage jobs.
In May, 72-year-old long-time democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced to 12 years in jail. Silver was convicted of honest services fraud, money laundering and corruption. He was found guilty of using his position and influence to illegally earn money from two separate schemes. He helped arrange state grants for a doctor who was doing mesothelioma research. In return, the doctor funneled patients with potential lawsuits to a law firm associated with Silver. That law firm then shared its fees with Silver. In the second scheme, Silver had real estate developers move their tax business to another favored law firm. That firm then shared fees with Silver. The speaker supported legislation that helped the developers.
In an unintentional example of bipartisanship, Republican state senate majority leader Dean Skelos was convicted of corruption and sentenced to five years in prison. Skelos was found guilty on counts of bribery, extortion and conspiracy. Dean Skelos used his influence to pressure companies doing business with the state to provide consulting fees, no show jobs and cash to his son Adam.
Skelos and Silver were not just seat fillers in Albany. Both had years of experience and held leadership positions. Before the unpleasantness of their convictions, they were two out of the “three men in the room” — a reference to the three men who decided what would and would not happen in Albany. The three men were Silver, Skelos and Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Preet Bharara has been leading an anti-corruption campaign. Bharara is the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. In a 2013 speech, Bharara listed five state senators and two assemblymen who had been convicted by his office. The list just gets longer.
In a New York Times editorial at the time of Silver’s conviction, Zephyr Teachout pointed out that the influence of money in politics is making it harder for politicians to tell the difference between campaign contributions and bribes. Teachout is currently seeking a seat in Congress in the 19th district.
Teachout wrote that a “developer mentioned in the charges gave more than $10 million to political campaigns in the past decade, including $200,000 to Mr. Silver and his political action committees.” She went on to say that politicians “can’t even recognize explicit bribery because it feels the same as what they do every day.”
Ethics reform will certainly be a hot topic in the upcoming state elections. Expect to see an ethics package of one sort or another. There will likely be calls for public funding of elections and the elimination of outside income for legislators.
One ethics reform certainly seems to be a no-brainer. Today convicted legislators like Skelos and Silver can retain their state pensions. After profiting from their time in office, a person convicted of a crime against the public can continue to be paid by the public.
Assemblyman David Buchwald, who represents Lewisboro, has doggedly fought for a bill “stripping of taxpayer funded pension benefits from public officials who are convicted of a felony involving a breach of public trust.”
Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? You lose your pension for a breach of public trust. Currently, no judge has the option to strip a public official of a pension. The bill would allow for that to happen.
Things move slowly in Albany and there is a legislative wrinkle. The bill is actually a change to the state constitution. Constitutional changes must pass two consecutive state legislatures. Buchwald introduced this bill in in 2013. The legislation is making its way through the system. Hopefully, it will see the light of day before Preet Bharara announces another set of indictments.
If the bill is enacted, public officials who engage bad acts like Skelos and Silver will not receive both accommodations in a federal facility and a state pension.
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