Bribery in plain sight

Not with a bang but with mistrial whimpers, juries faced with overwhelming evidence of corruption couldn’t agree to convict a pair of political big shots. Both Sen. Bob Menendez and ex-jail union boss Norman Seabrook must be swiftly retried. For now the larger judgment appears grim indeed: It is becoming all but impossible to send officials to prison for bribery.

Much of the reason traces back to a 2016 Supreme Court ruling that nixed the conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell for taking lavish gifts from contributors and putting his thumb on the scales for them — all because prosecutors purportedly couldn’t prove that the governor delivered a real thing of value, an “official act,” in direct exchange for the indulgences.

In that decision’s wake, and for want of congressional action to more clearly draw the line public officials must not cross, courts have been hamstrung to punish crooked behavior.

Former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver sent taxpayer money to real estate developers and a cancer researcher — enriching himself with about $4 million in ginned up lawyer referral fees. His conviction was overturned; he is being tried again.

Former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos pressured a developer, a medical malpractice insurer and an environmental company to throw his son consulting work, a no-show job and cash. Just as with Silver, an appeals court tossed the convictions. And just as with Silver, they are being tried again.

Prosecutors assembled a mountain of evidence that Menendez traded hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and campaign contributions from a scam-artist Florida ophthalmologist for official favors. No conviction.

And Seabrook, according to the convincing case painted by prosecutors, steered $20 million from his union’s coffers into a hedge fund in exchange for payments — including $60,000 in cash stuffed into a Ferragamo bag. No conviction.

What happened to justice in this country?