The past week or so has done little to, shall we say, inspire confidence in New York’s political leadership, especially if you live in Nassau County.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, our state’s top law enforcement official, resigned after credible and graphic allegations that he had physically assaulted several women.
Former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was found guilty of political corruption for the second time after the first verdict against him was thrown out on a technicality.
Former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos filed pretrial motions in an effort to avoid joining Silver in a second conviction for political corruption.
Charges of political corruption against former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, his wife, Linda, and former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto went to the jury.
A federal judge set the date for the trial of Mangano’s top deputy, Rob Walker, on other political corruption charges.
Gerard Terry, the former Town of North Hempstead Democratic chair, was jailed, pending sentencing for state tax fraud in June.
We can, therefore, safely assume the political parties are not sending us their best.
And this list does not even include Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the last presidential election, which features many New Yorkers starting with President Donald Trump.
During the campaign, Trump referred to his extensive experience with elected officials, many of whom were from New York, in presenting his qualifications for “draining the swamp” in Washington.
We’ll leave aside how Trump has done on that front for another day.
The question at hand is why does New York state lead the nation in convictions of state officials with Nassau challenging Brooklyn and Queens among the counties? And what to do about it?
For the moment, we can set aside Schneiderman, who is facing allegations of personal misconduct rather than public misdeeds.
We will do the same for Terry, although it is worth noting that he parlayed his position as Democratic chair into six government positions paying more than $200,000 a year – while not paying his personal taxes.
Cynthia Nixon, the activist and actress challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, called last week for a new commission to combat public corruption.
The commission, she said, would be like the Moreland Commission Cuomo appointed in July 2013, only to close a year later.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara then retrieved the files and pursued some of the cases, including those against Silver and Skelos.
Bharara endorsed Nixon’s proposal for a second commission while rapping Cuomo for disbanding the commission. So do we.
We also believe that enough is known about how state government works to make several changes beginning with the LLC loophole, which allows corporations to make virtually unlimited contributions to elected officials.
It is no coincidence that allegations against both Silver and Skelos involved Glenwood Management, a New Hyde Park-real estate company that builds and manages luxury officials and apartment buildings primarily in New York City.
Glenwood has used the loophole to become the largest contributor to New York state officials of both parties.
The why was answered in court testimony when Glenwood officials said they could not build luxury apartments and office buildings in New York City without state tax breaks worth tens of millions of dollars.
In law enforcement, this is called motive and opportunity.
Overlooked in the testimony from Glenwood is why the state is giving large tax breaks, often on property taxes, to large companies building luxury offices and apartments in New York City.
Do we really need to subsidize luxury offices and apartments? And, if so, wouldn’t it be easier – and subject to less corruption – to reduce property taxes for everyone and replace the lost revenue with something fairer, like income taxes?
Then there is the question of who is deciding on the tax breaks for super wealthy developers – part-time legislators, most of whom have outside jobs.
Legislators have rejected restrictions on earning outside income, even with an increase in salary. We think a large salary hike combined with tough restrictions on outside income would be a very good investment for taxpayers.
But at a minimum the leadership of the Assembly and the Senate should not hold outside jobs.
Especially in New York, where many of the decisions are hammered out by the governor and the leaders of both houses. Until a few years ago that was Cuomo, Skelos and Silver.
To its credit, Nassau has already taken steps to curb corruption with both Republicans and Democrats joining to adopt Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas’ call for an independent inspector general with subpoena power to review all county contracts. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran has also introduced procurement reforms. Good.
Perhaps an even more important change would be a more engaged electorate, holding elected officials accountable – regardless of their political affiliation.
Otherwise, as we have learned, we are all left holding the bag.
