On corruption in state government

From The Plattsburgh Press Republican:

One disturbing side effect of all of the corruption news out of Albany in the past years, months and weeks is that the public is gaining no reason to believe its governor has behaved appropriately.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara seems to be gaining momentum in his corruption-routing campaign in New York state. He has won convictions against two of the three most powerful politicians in the state: former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

The people of the state should be breathing a sigh of relief that Bharara launched his investigations when he did, before more bribery and intimidation took place.

Now, attention turns to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo empaneled the Moreland Commission in 2013 to identify sources of corruption in state government and pave the way for remedial measures, including prosecutions, if necessary. Before the commission could complete its work, however, Cuomo disbanded it the next year.

That raised plenty of suspicion itself. Was Cuomo taking proactive steps to short-circuit the commission’s efforts before they led directly to his own office? That was the broad inference among Albany insiders, and nothing has been done since to change that perception.

Face-saving and reputation-saving assurances have not poured out of the governor’s office to make New Yorkers feel any more confident of his distance from all the turbulence around him.

Now, published reports say Bharara is investigating the role of the governor’s office – perhaps even the governor himself – in handing out lucrative and perhaps undeserved contracts to companies that have supported him in the past.

Specifically, three companies in central New York gained contracts for work building affordable-housing projects, including the so-called “Buffalo Billion.” Lower bidders in those projects were overlooked in favor of Cuomo contributors, the allegations claim.

Bharara has subpoenaed documents, and his office declines comment in the meantime.

The subpoena does not mean, of course, that anyone has been found guilty of or even charged with wrongdoing. At this stage, it is just an inquiry.

And Cuomo’s campaign insists that no donation of any size has any influence over any action the governor or anyone else in government takes.

Cuomo has formed an investigative panel of his own to look into the subject, but critics maintain he is doing that only in a hollow effort to throw pursuers off his trail.

The people need to hear something from him that eases concerns that the despicable lack of conscience in state government has also enveloped the state’s highest office.

New Yorkers are sick of corruption. It has taken down more than a dozen members of the legislature in the last three years.

It’s time Cuomo took a definitive stand and explained himself to his anxious constituents. Otherwise, they will simply wait for Bharara to drop the next shoe.