Several years ago I was talking to a group of law students in San Francisco and the subject of political corruption came up.
They insisted that the California State Legislature was the most corrupt in the United States.
I responded by telling them that when the Legislature convenes in New York, the crime rate in Albany goes up.
I wasn’t being entirely facetious.
During the past fourteen years twenty-nine state legislators including Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos have been convicted of felonies.
The convictions haven’t all been for official corruption.
Some have been for physically and sexually assaulting staff members.
It seems that when the “three men in a room” are cutting deals, the other legislators waiting to be told of the deals have too much idle time on their hands.
Reigning in corruption in Albany has proven to be a fool’s errand.
Cuomo announced the creation of a Moreland Commission to examine the issue but then closed it down when the scrutiny got too close to him.
When the Commission’s files were obtained by the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, the indictment and conviction of Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver and State Senate Majority Leader, Dean Skelos for official corruption soon followed.
Three months ago Silver’s convictions were revered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
This past week Skelos convictions were reversed by the same court.
The Second Circuit was constrained to follow a United States Supreme Court ruling in United States v. McDonnell.
McDonnell was the Governor of Virginia who accepted thousands of dollars in gifts from a major contributor who sought his help in arranging meetings with Virginia state officials his business needed approvals from.
In reversing his convictions, the Supreme Cour narrowed the definition of what constitutes an official act that could be considered as evidence of a corrupt bargain, opening the door for corrupt politicians to claim that pay-to-play meetings arranged by them were merely routine constituent service.
This isn’t the first harebrained decision by the Court affecting the electoral process.
The Citizens United decision, in which the Court ruled that campaign finance restrictions were a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, allows unregulated spending, turning the electoral process into a cesspool.
During Supreme Court confirmation hearings, days are spent poring over the nominees qualifications to insure the most qualified are sitting on the Court.
When I consider the consequences of these two decisions I’m reminded of what former Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, once remarked, when told that John F. Kennedy’s cabinet were the “best and brightest” that America had to offer, he said, “that may be so but I wish one of them had run for sheriff once.”
Asked to comment on the Skelos reversals, Andrew Cuomo said, “Fighting corruption is right, I did it as attorney general. I think it is an ongoing process. There is no doubt that we could do more in Albany. There is no doubt that we could do more in New York City. There is no doubt that we could more federally. But you have to do it legally.”
That, from the guy who prematurely shut down the Moreland Commission, has balked at closing the LLC loophole that allows individuals to contribute unlimited amounts of money to his campaigns and whose closest associate and executive deputy secretary , Joseph Percoco (“Mario Cuomo’s third son”) is awaiting trial for political corruption along with other administration officials and campaign donors caught up on bribery, bid rigging and extortion charges emanating from his “Buffalo Billion” program.
Congressman Thomas Suozzi from long Island has introduced legislation to expand the definition of “official act” to close the loophole created by the Supreme Court in the McDonell decision. While it has bipartisan support, it remains to be seen whether it will be enacted. Politicians are not known for closing loopholes that protect them from criminal liability.
In the meantime, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, Joon Kim, has vowed to reprosecute both Skelos and Silver.
Today, disgraced former congressman and convicted felon, Michael Grimm from Staten Island, announced that he would seek re-election and challenge Republican Daniel Donovan, now that he has completed a seven month prison sentence for falsifying tax returns.
It seems that there is no amount of shame or hubris that acts as a deterrent to these types of politicians, once they’ve fed at the public trough.
If Michael Grimm prevails, it will only encourage Skelos and Silver to try and rejoin Cuomo in the “three men in a room” form of governance.
Who knows ?
Maybe, someday, we could see a Governor Percoco.