Albany’s Ethics Again in the News
At this sorry point, you would probably be asking for ridicule to seriously mention ethics reform in the same sentence as the New York State capital. But calls for change have been heard recently following former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s indictment on corruption charges. Most interesting among them perhaps is one from Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who said last week that state lawmakers should be barred from outside income.
This potential solution should be taken seriously — and not just because of outright graft, as alleged in Mr. Silver’s case. Avoiding conflicts of interest is ample reason to bar members of the State Legislature from continuing in jobs other than the ones they were elected to do.
If there was any doubt that many of Albany’s elected officials most assuredly have something to hide, reflecting on the fact that the members of the Legislature have exempted themselves from the kind of financial openness required of other state workers can dispel it. Mr. Silver’s replacement as speaker, Carl Heastie, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reached a tentative agreement that would require elected officials to reveal the details of any moonlighting, but the State Senate has not signaled that it will go along. Disclosure is hardly enough; reports can be falsified. Far more is necessary to turn around the long, dysfunctional tradition of Albany.
The outside work of the South Fork’s own state legislators, though they are not implicated in any wrongdoing whatsoever, should also give pause. Senator Kenneth P. LaValle and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. are good, honest representatives of the people, but both are also of counsel in the largest law firm in eastern Suffolk, and, on top of that, Mr. Thiele pulls in a $50,000 annual paycheck as the Sag Harbor Village attorney. As with so many of their peers, they should make state government their sole professional concern.
Mr. Schneiderman has it right in calling for a complete ban. He has also suggested paying elected officials more to wean them away from outside income; New Yorkers should be willing to accept the cost if it would make for better, more transparent government. And if some lawmakers don’t like it, they can go work fully in the private sector.