Close the Shelly Loophole

Congress has a clear duty to fix the legal loophole that just undid the corruption conviction of ex-Speaker Sheldon Silver. The Supreme Court caused this storm last year when it unanimously overturned the corruption conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. But now it’s up to the nation’s lawmakers to tighten and more clearly define federal anti-corruption statutes.

Or else, as former Albany US Attorney Richard Hartunian told Politico, “the line between public service and private benefit will continue to blur.”

At least the 2nd Circuit judges who tossed Silver’s conviction left room for a new trial, refusing his lawyers’ bid to dismiss the charges. The evidence remains strong that Silver enriched himself to the tune of $4 million in schemes involving the sale of his official powers.

But other corrupt politicians may escape prosecution. Indeed, acting US Attorney Joon Kim strongly implied that the McDonnell loophole was a big reason he brought no charges against Mayor de Blasio & Co. over the pay-to-play practices surrounding his Campaign for One New York.

We see no chance the state Legislature will make it easier to prosecute corrupt politicians, so it’s up to federal lawmakers.

They should look to better spell out what “official acts” can be the basis of a guilty verdict, and also to stop officeholders from using charities as cutouts so they don’t technically “profit personally” from the sale of favors.

As a practical matter, this will have to be a bipartisan reform: Each party has members who will fight tooth-and-nail to protect corruption. The clean lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have to find common ground, or the dirty ones will triumph.

With Virginia and now New York burned by the McDonnell rule, how about a Democrat and Republican from each state standing up to lead?

Unless Congress acts, even the feds may soon prove powerless to prosecute crooked pols. As Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb notes: If what Sheldon Silver did wasn’t illegal, “it’s hard to imagine what is.”