Laws make it so easy to be dirty
TEMPORARY BREAK
THE MOST damaging thing about corruption is not corruption itself — it’s when everyone knows the corrupt can get away with it. New York can act right now to restore the public’s trust. To save our government from the corrupt and to recover confidence in our democracy for taxpayers, here are three things we can and should do:
Restrict gift-giving to public officials. The flaw in the law that allowed the Silver conviction to be overturned is a recent precedent set in the case of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who was cleared of corruption charges by the Supreme Court even though he accepted loans, vacations and other gifts from people who directly benefited from a company with business before his state.
That did not prove corruption, the court said, because the actions McDonnell performed in exchange for the gifts were not expressly “official” acts.
The same flaw exists in New York State law.
New York could and should close this loophole by strictly clarifying its law to criminalize gift-giving to public officials regardless of what they do in response.
Ban outside income for lawmakers. Outside income for lawmakers is permitted in New York and has been at the center of numerous corruption cases against elected officials, including Silver.
Empower district attorneys. Right now, believe it or not, lying to an agent of a DA’s office is legal. We must make that offense a felony so prosecutors can gather evidence and do their job. We must also broaden the range of charges available to local prosecutors and create stronger penalties to make DAs fearsome.
The time has come for New York to clean up its own mess.
Kaminsky is a New York state senator representing Long Island; he formerly served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn.