Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, guilty on all counts of corruption. Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, guilty on all counts of corruption.
This is not an indictment of the New York Legislature. It’s a conviction.
These were not just two bad apples. They were, in their years in power, the Legislature.
This is not a argument for change. It’s two stunning, unequivocal cases for it.
What Mr. Skelos, a Republican, and Mr. Silver, a Democrat, did was business as usual in the Legislature, the way government works and the way at least some people wield power. That isn’t some hyperbolic conclusion we’re divining from the verdicts. That was, fundamentally, their defense. Mr. Silver sought to argue that it was perfectly acceptable for a powerful state lawmaker to hand out public money and do legislative favors for those who sent business to law firms he was connected to. Mr. Skelos cast himself as just a father using his connections to help his son get work from people who happened to have an interest in legislative action that he could make or break.
No doubt there are plenty of honest lawmakers who feel right now that they and their institution will be unfairly tarred with a broad brush of corruption. If they want to avoid that, they need to seize this moment and demand real change. And Gov. Andrew Cuomo should insist on real change, too, not the half-hearted measures he’s always settled for.
Those little tweaks – tighter controls on expenses, stricter requirements on reporting outside income – were baby steps compared to what should be done.
Lawmakers – Mr. Skelos’ Republican conference in particular – need to stop defending the campaign money machine and their long-standing position that it should be fine for donors to give all the money they want to politicians, so long as we know who’s giving the money. Campaign contribution limits – for statewide and legislative posts – must come down to levels that don’t reek of business-as-usual influence-buying.
The loophole that allows people to funnel virtually unlimited campaign contributions through limited liability companies needs to be closed.
New York needs a system of public financing of campaigns, so that candidates aren’t beholden to a few rich donors. Opponents should stop exaggerating the cost or misrepresenting the goal of a more honest system as a burden on taxpayers .
The state should have a limited campaign season so that lawmakers aren’t constantly chasing money. When elections are over, any unspent funds should go back to donors, to charity, to pay down state debt, or into a public campaign finance fund.
The Legislature should ban or, as Congress does, severely limit outside income, an idea that can be phased in so that sitting legislators can decide if they want to run again or not.
These are not radical ideas; they’re just not the way New York politicians are used to doing things.
Not the way Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos were used to doing things.
Not this corrupt business as usual.