How not to reform Albany ethics
The conviction of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the trial of Dean Skelos open the door to change in the way state government operates. We can intelligently address both legal and illegal corruption, if we’re careful. Here are four things that will work and two that won’t.
Fix campaign finance laws. Most of the big money corrupting Albany comes in the form of perfectly legal campaign contributions. Millions are invested by interests on the right and the left who intend to control government actions, in their self-interest.
Given the bizarre and destructive Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, there are some constitutional limitations on reform. But one fix is both legal and effective. We must close the “LLC loophole,” the result of a bizarre ruling by the state Board of Elections that gutted existing limitations on corporate giving.
End secret slush funds. The governor, the Senate and the Assembly often agree among themselves to split control of special budget funds. Some of it is for roads, some for health care, some for community grants.
The leaders do what they like with the money, and in secret. One such fund was the source of the healthcare grant at issue in the Silver trial. Almost none of it is subject to public scrutiny or review. We should make public every such fund — and require legislative approval of the governor’s grants and gubernatorial approval of Senate and Assembly grants.
Require and enforce a “fiduciary oath.” We can’t legislate morality. But we can require officials to pledge that their primary obligation is to the public good, not self-interest. And we can give prosecutors an avenue to pursue egregious self-dealing that may now escape technical definitions of corruption. Such an oath is already in place for state officials working at state authorities. Extend it to elected officials.
Better enforce existing law. Self-policing by the executive or Legislature hasn’t worked. The state Board of Elections hasn’t worked. Neither has the new Joint Commission on Public Ethics. The best answer is to require that ethics and campaign investigations be headed by a single person serving for a fixed term and agreed to by the governor, chief judge, state controller, attorney general, Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader. A little awkward but better than what isn’t working now. Here are two things not to do. Don’t ban outside employment. There’s been much said about banning “outside income” using the Silver and Skelos matters as case studies. The problem is that the proposals are limited to banning earned income: no salaries, no professional fees, etc. Unearned income would still be legal.
In other words, you can’t work as an insurance agent or a funeral director. But you can own an insurance agency or a funeral home and collect whatever you like.
Banning one and not the other is a gigantic loophole. And no one has figured out how to ban outside income channeled to spouses or children, a matter now at issue in the Skelos trial. Malefactors will find ways of sending and receiving income intended to influence officials. A ban on outside employment only will fail.
Don’t limit reforms to the Legislature alone. The sheer venality of the spate of convictions and trials of legislators makes it tempting to limit reforms to them. But statewide officials are subject to the same ethical challenges.
Indeed, the need to raise tens of millions for statewide elections and expensive judicial elections may increase the probability of corruption. For Albany to function, we need all public officials held to the same standards as are applied to legislators.
The overwhelming number of statewide and legislative officials are honest and hard-working, and they are deeply distressed about recent events and what to do about them. Let’s fix this through a civil conversation, with the courage to adopt what works and the wisdom to reject what won’t.
Don’t ban outside income or single out the Legislature