Corruption? That’s a shock.

Brian Benjamin’s resignation as lieutenant governor was more than a political scandal for Gov. Kathy Hochul and her administration. It was a case study in so much that is wrong with New York government and politics.

The lack of independence in government watchdogs. The failure of every law enforcement and government watchdog in this area to spot alleged corruption going on right under their noses. The gaming of the campaign finance system. The abuse of public funds to further political interests.

The charges of bribery and other offenses against Mr. Benjamin are, of course, just allegations so far. He says he’s innocent. We will see.

But red flags were there well before Ms. Hochul picked Mr. Benjamin as lieutenant governor last August. It was reported months earlier how, during his unsuccessful run for New York City comptroller, some people listed as campaign donors had never heard of him, and he returned the money. There were also questions about whether he double-billed his campaign and the state for travel costs and used campaign funds for personal expenses.

Ms. Hochul says she thought all this had been vetted, and that Mr. Benjamin assured her nothing was amiss. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams says Mr. Benjamin repeatedly lied during his vetting process.

Assured? Lied? Was this an interview or a background check — which is supposed to root out things a job candidate doesn’t want people to know.

Then came the arrest in November, after Mr. Benjamin’s appointment, of Gerald Migdol, a real estate developer whose charity received a $50,000 state grant, thanks to then-state Sen. Benjamin, allegedly in exchange for the developer raising donations — in some cases fraudulent ones — to qualify the Benjamin campaign for matching funds through New York City’s campaign finance program.

We called in March for Mr. Benjamin to explain his questionable uses of campaign funds or resign. Crickets from him and the administration, until the indictment this past week.

Where to begin?

How is it that State Police, with all their resources and investigative talent, apparently missed all this?

How is it that none of the watchdogs in this part of the state — the New York State Board of Elections, the Justice Department’s Northern District, the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the Legislative Ethics Commission, the Albany County district attorney’s office — appear to have looked deeply into this if at all, leaving it once again for the Justice Department’s Southern District to pick up the slack?

Why, in 2022, after all the sordid history of the abuses of legislative “member items” and attempts to clean that system up, are we learning of yet another lawmaker being able to steer tens of thousands of dollars to a political benefactor?

What implications do the alleged abuses of New York City’s public campaign finance system have for the statewide system New York is about to launch? What is the state doing to protect tens of millions of taxpayer dollars against similar fraud?

If Ms. Hochul is shocked by this alleged corruption — and the sudden blow to her political prospects as she runs for re-election — she should not be. She and her fellow Democrats, after all, just thumbed their noses at all the good government activists who were calling for an independent ethics body to police state government. Instead, they created another commission made of their own appointees. That affront to public integrity came just days before Mr. Benjamin’s arrest eroded a little more of the public trust in government that Ms. Hochul has vowed to restore.