On The Right: The season of corruption in N.Y.

George J Marlin

Have you noticed that just about every day there’s a headline regarding corruption probes of state and municipal officials and projects?

In Albany, not only are former long-time aides to Governor Cuomo being investigated by the feds, his signature initiative, the Buffalo billion dollar solar plant project, is under siege.

Amidst allegations of contract rigging, subpoenas have been served on Cuomo’s office demanding records and communications with at least 20 companies involved with the state-supported Buffalo economic project and other initiatives in Syracuse and Albany.  

Records of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute and the Empire State Development Corporation — both of which have been involved with government sponsored technology projects — have also been subpoenaed.

To add to the madness, the state’s Public Authorities Board, instead of waiting until the U.S. Attorney’s probe was completed, approved in late May the issuance of $500 million in bonded debt to fund the Buffalo solar panel company.  This could be another Solyndra in the making.

In New York City, investigations led by the Manhattan District Attorney and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District have been rattling the de Blasio  Administration.

There’s the investigation into the political fundraising antics of Mayor de Blasio and his cronies.  

Investigators are examining if campaign contribution limits were circumvented in 2014 to support upstate Democratic state senate candidates.

Then there’s the inquiry to determine if contributors to non-profits controlled by the mayor’s allies received special treatment from the city government.

In a desperate move to shield communication between the mayor and his “shadow government”— political consultants and non-profit executives — de Blasio  declared them “Agents of the City.”

Condemning this Nixonian ploy, Citizens Union Chief, Richard Dadey said, “This is part of an increasing pattern of the mayor to parse legal definitions that result in the mayor being less transparent and accountable.”

It was revealed in early June that the federal investigation into activities of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office has been expanded.  

The New York Times reported that as many as six cases are being reviewed to determine if “political considerations influenced decisions made by the Suffolk District Attorney’s office….”

The DA’s deal with former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and the decision to order detectives to covertly follow Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone’s press secretary, Justin Meyers, appear to be two of the cases being examined.

In Nassau County, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District has been investigating Deputy County Executive Rob Walker to determine if he awarded contracts based on political contributions.  

The probe centers on the VIP Splash contract which was approved on the very day in 2014 that the company gave $2,925 to the Walker-run Hicksville Republican Committee.

VIP Splash, which was incorporated forty-eight hours before the county sought bids for the removal of debris from South Shore waterways, was awarded a $12.2 million contract.

Despite ongoing investigations into the VIP Splash award by the U.S. Attorney and Nassau DA Madeline Singas, the Mangano administration filed an amendment to pay the contractor an additional $386,000 dollars.

What a ridiculous move.  

To spit in the eyes of investigators during a criminal probe — is just plain old dumb.  

Sadly, the county Legislature did not have the guts to table the amendment until it is determined if there was any wrong doing.

At every level of government, it appears that political expediency and self interest overwhelms political philosophy and political conscience.  

This phenomenon is not only corroding the public’s trust in their elected officials’ ability to govern, but causing many to lose their faith in democratic civil society.  

Such cynicism, the noted ethics scholar Jean Bethke Elshtain of the University of Chicago warns, “strokes mistrust; and generates flight from neighborliness, large heartedness, and the patience necessary to perdure.”  

It can also drive them into the arms of loudmouth demagogues who will lead them down the road to ruin.

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