An Update from NY: Sen Majority Leader Dean Skelos handed himself over to the FBI this morning on charges of corruption related to helping his sons company get contract with local governments.
Corruption in Albany politics is always going to make headlines. With the fall of Senate Majority Leader Bruno, the eventual demise of Senator Dean Skelos, Governor Spitzer, and Speaker Sheldon Silver; we are hearing a call for “ethics reform.”
The irony in this entire debate is that ethics are being called for from the very privileged few that make their money off of our tax dollars. The very fact that we are recycling press releases out of Governor Cuomo’s office on this issue is comical. What we should be doing is looking even closer at the real problems; money and lobbyist, just as the Thursday April 30th Newsday article by Yancey Roy “The Lobby Leaders”did. The real problem in Albany is not just the moral shallowness and greed of elected officials who continue to betray us. It’s the agents of evil that bring out the worst in them, and those agents are the lobbyist and their campaign funneling checkbooks. To clean this mess up we need to identify expose and regulate lobby firms who have created this mess in the first place.
There are several real steps that could be taken to fix the broken Albany system. However those elected officials whose intentions are good lack the political power to affect true change. We can call on those in power to meet the challenge and ask them to relinquish some of their power for the greater good, but that may be met with just lip service.
These are the top lobbying firms working to privatize public education in New York State
Money and fundraising are the sources of much of the problems in Albany. Most don’t know that judges running for elected office have very different rules than any other elected office. Judges are prohibited from attending fundraisers while in office, outside of when they are actually running for office. Judges have a very short window to fund-raise; 30 days before petitions are submitted for office and the last day of that year. They’re also prohibited from soliciting funds or lending their names to others to campaign. A system where the state legislature only has an opportunity to raise money once every two years, while they weren't in Albany – would produce a purer, harder working public servant. No politician should receive money during the process of crafting laws. Political contributions should be about supporting candidates that support your issues and not changing votes for big checks. If the legislature adopted similar rules that govern judicial fundraising, over time our system would improves.
The other issue is greed in lobbying. In Albany, 80% of lobbying money goes to about 20% of the firms. These 20 Mega-lobbying firms have significant resources because of their clients. It’s a dirty secret that legislators steer potential clients to firms that they have relationships with. Lobbyists are not required to report how they get business. While some clients are engaged by introduction through other lobbyists, many are referred through 2nd and 3rd party introductions by legislators. This practice needs to stop. It’s likely that if a legislator referred a client to a lobbyist, that lobbyist would be very helpful to them through political contributions. The top 20 lobbying firms need to be investigated for this legislative “Insider Trading” and end the steering of lobbying clients. Lobbying in itself isn’t wrong, the way it’s done is.
Other real reforms like increasing legislators pay and having yearlong sessions instead of 60 days a year and increasing the terms of office to every four years and impose term limits all have merit. We are in a crucial time where action is necessary to restore the public trust. Swift action must be taken before the confidence of the public in our political system is eroded and Republicans and Democrats can both agree that if the people stop participating in the political process, then everything we have fought and died for, debated, protested and bargained - will be lost.