Shelly Silver Goes Regressive On Ethics Reform

Reform is something that Albany desperately needs, yet like the end of a rainbow, it seems impossible to get to. Sure, there are some attempts at it but getting a handle on the core problems of our state government is like grasping at straws. The case in point here is Majority Leader Smith and Governor Paterson's call for an independent ethics commission. Those two leaders seem to be on board but to get anything done in our state capitol all three men in the room have to sign off, and the other one isn't willing to budge.

From The NYT Cityroom:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver unveiled a complex proposal at the meeting that appeared to doom any chance of swift action. His plan would create three commissions charged with ethics and lobbying oversight of the executive branch and the Legislature. The governor and Senate Democrats have proposed creating a single, independent ethics and lobbying commission with jurisdiction over both branches of government.

At the heart of the differing approaches is Mr. Silver’s unwillingness to cede the Legislature’s control of its own ethics oversight. He proposed recreating the current, much-maligned Legislative Ethics Commission along the lines of the Office of Congressional Ethics in the House of Representatives.

He also proposed breaking up the integrity commission into separate commissions overseeing lobbying and ethics, reviving a structure that existed before 2007.

And of course, things were just as bad before 2007 under the old system. The reality is that Congress and the New York Legislature cannot police themselves, since they've shown time and again that the best they can do is slap each other on the wrist. Currently we have two indicted men serving in the State Senate and an unknown number of dubious characters, yet Smith does next to nothing to reprimand them, for fear of losing his majority. Speaker Silver, in the other chamber, is definitely a dubious character and knows it, that is why he isn't favoring this bill. Don't expect him to put his name on anything that would resemble real reform. The only way that would happen is with another Speaker, preferably not connected to the current one.

Bloomberg Tries To Cut Ethics Requirements For Public Officials

Just when the climate in Albany and down here in the City couldn't be more corrupt, Mayor Bloomberg is taking a stab at making it easier to hide personal information for public officials. Ethical scandals haven't just been occurring in Albany but down here in New York City as well. Quinn had her slush funds exposed not too long ago, Dennis Gallagher was found to be a scumbag and our last Mayor was Rudy Giuliani, so enough said. If anything these men and women who are elected to represent us should be willing to or made to disclose anything and everything that is pertinent to the way they govern and what things or people might influence them in one way or another. So why is Bloomberg going in exactly the opposite direction?

From The NY Times:

Among the proposed changes, public servants would no longer have to provide dollar amounts or ranges on outside income. In addition, they would need to report only gifts (worth at least $50) they received from people who did business with the city, not all gifts larger than $1,000, as is the current law.

Also slated to come off the disclosure form are investments worth between $1,000 and $10,000 and real estate holdings located more than a quarter-mile outside the city limits.

Among the planned additions to the forms is the disclosure of relatives who hold city jobs, a question intended to discourage nepotism.

Of those generally required to submit disclosure reports, most are elected officials, candidates for public office, policy makers, purchasing agents and other high-level public servants.

The bill was meant to reduce the paperload for volunteers, but this ends up giving politcians cover in so many ways. While there are some good things in there, the bill is still flawed and good government groups were the first to react to this news.

Still, the proposed changes are causing ripples among groups that promote transparency in government and are not convinced that less is more. Several said they were concerned that the changes had not been widely discussed before becoming part of the legislation. “It seems to me whenever there’s a shrinkage of information, the public should be concerned,” said Norman Siegel, a longtime civil rights advocate who is running for public advocate next year.

Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, a watchdog group, said: “I wouldn’t want the disclosure forms changed in a way that would limit or diminish information that has been previously required. In fact, there may be good reasons to increase the disclosure requirements as opposed to loosening.”

Less is definitely not more in this case and Bloomberg should be well aware of that. The fact that the bill was partially hidden by an effort to help city volunteers is rather distasteful. Actually, it almost tastes as sour as the Mayor's subtle influence in the term limits battle that is now being discussed across the city. Like in that debate, this seems like another attempt by the Mayor and his minions in order to hold on to more power at the public's expense.

NY Assembly Investigates Ethics In The Dark

Even with the indictment and arrest of Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, the legislative body is up to their old tricks while considering what to do about their tarnished ethical image. The take down of Seminerio is significant because the Assembly realizes that they can be infiltrated by law enforcement for their shady ways. Recently re-elected captain of the ship Sheldon Silver must have been worried about the situation, because he held a secret meeting specifically concerning ethics in the Assembly.

From The Gothamist:

After longtime Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio's arrest on bribery charges, the State Assembly apparently held a secret meeting to discuss, per the AP, "tougher rules over disclosure of outside income by lawmakers."

In the criminal complaint against Seminerio, there were also references to "Assemblyman No 1," Assemblyman No 2" and "Senator No 2"--prompting lawmakers to wonder who's who. Seminerio's $500,000+ in bribes were apparently accrued after he set up a shell company to accept payments; current rules do not require lawmakers to disclose who their clients are.

While Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wants an overhaul of the rules, it's unclear how far he will go. As the Post reports, Silver "earns an undisclosed income from powerhouse Manhattan law firm Weitz & Luxenberg." And for reference, the Post adds the current rules allow them to "earn unlimited amounts of outside income" while their "official salaries can exceed $120,000 a year and are the third highest in the nation."

Of course no one but the women and men in the room know what went on since it was held in secret, away from New Yorkers that pay their third-highest-salaries in the nation. We also do not know how many other Assemblymembers take bribes because the state house would never investigate itself or else it would probably be nearly empty after a full reivew.

Their leader would also never go far enough to root out the corruption, because he doesn't want anyone to know what exactly he does at the law firm that pays him x (anothe unknown) amount of dollars a year on top of his legislative salary. I'm not holding my breath on any reform from Silver, other than a cheap gimmick to make people think he cares about the Seminerio fallout.

Vito's Troubles Continue

This story couldn't have happened to a better guy than Vito Fossella, currently occupying New York's 13th Congressional District. Drunk driving is, as Vito said, a bad error in judgment, though not necessarily something that affects his judgment as a Congressman. There are plenty of bad political judgments on Vito's part that have nothing to do with driving a car under the influence of drugs (yes, alcohol is a drug). Still, this is an election year and this DWI will play into how voters cast their ballots in November. The story could have gone away within a few days, but now there's more ethical troubles for Mr. Fossella.

From The NY Daily News:

This is the first look at the mystery woman whom Rep. Vito Fossella (R-S.I.) called for help after he was charged with drunken driving in Virginia.

Laura Fay, wearing sunglasses and dressed in jogging clothes, refused to comment when she was approached over the weekend.

Fay is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and marathon runner. Public records show the divorcee owns a townhouse in Alexandria, Va. She also reportedly has a 3-year-old daughter.

Fossella aides continued to describe the two only as good friends. Fay picked up Fossella last Thursday morning, seven hours after he was arrested for running a red light 3 miles away from her townhouse.

The mystery woman sounds scandalous, but the real problem is that he is using campaign funds to pay for a high-priced "damage control" firm. It isn't illegal, but as Dick Dadey of the Citizens Union said, "...it shows bad judgment." That is what is at the heart of this, Vito has bad judgment all around and this is just one example of it, or should I say three bad examples.

McCain Gets Caught In A Lie

Welcome to day three of the John McCain lobbyist scandal. Now that we have a little breathing room since the NY Times story broke, the heart of the matter is clearly shown (like the title the NYT put out originally). This isn't about the possibility of an extra-marital affair, it is about highlighting the fact that McCain is just another crooked politician in Washington, the mirror-opposite of what he claims to be. Yesterday he denied the entire story, desperately trying to hang on to his image. Unfortunately for him, when denying he contradicted himself from sworn testimony just a few years ago.

Oops:

Just hours after the Times's story was posted, the McCain campaign issued a point-by-point response that depicted the letters as routine correspondence handled by his staff—and insisted that McCain had never even spoken with anybody from Paxson or Alcalde & Fay about the matter. "No representative of Paxson or Alcalde & Fay personally asked Senator McCain to send a letter to the FCC," the campaign said in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

But that flat claim seems to be contradicted by an impeccable source: McCain himself. "I was contacted by Mr. Paxson on this issue," McCain said in the Sept. 25, 2002, deposition obtained by NEWSWEEK. "He wanted their approval very bad for purposes of his business. I believe that Mr. Paxson had a legitimate complaint."

While McCain said "I don't recall" if he ever directly spoke to the firm's lobbyist about the issue—an apparent reference to Iseman, though she is not named—"I'm sure I spoke to [Paxson]." McCain agreed that his letters on behalf of Paxson, a campaign contributor, could "possibly be an appearance of corruption"—even though McCain denied doing anything improper.

McCain's subsequent letters to the FCC—coming around the same time that Paxson's firm was flying the senator to campaign events aboard its corporate jet and contributing $20,000 to his campaign—first surfaced as an issue during his unsuccessful 2000 presidential bid. William Kennard, the FCC chair at the time, described the sharply worded letters from McCain, then chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, as "highly unusual."

My hat is off to Newsweek for uncovering his sworn testimony from 2002. Isn't it amazing what a little bit of legwork can net you? Cheers to another chunk of the "maverick" being stripped away from the real McCain that we will all be able to see when deciding who the next President should be.

Howard Dean Frames McCain And The Media Begins To Follow

I have to be upfront about this, I love Howard Dean. He's been one of my political heroes since I saw him come on the national stage in 2003. I went to his meetups and was inspired by him, through the primaries in 2004 and throughout his chairmanship of the DNC. The 50 state strategy was genius even though it seems like common sense to all of us now. Howard recently spoke out on John McCain's scandal...and he nailed it. He figuratively hit the issue out of the park.

From The National Journal On-Air:

Q: So there is big news about John McCain -- the story that is in the New York Times, raising questions about his relationship with a lobbyist. This is a story the McCain people are saying is unfair and untrue. What do you think?

Dean: I have no idea whether the affair story is true or not, and I don't care. What I do care about is John McCain -- and this has been well-documented -- is talking all the time about being a reformer and a maverick, and in fact, he has taken thousands of dollars from corporations, ridden on their corporate jets, and then turned around and tried to do favors for them and get projects approved. He has tons of lobbyists on his staff. This is a guy who is very close to the lobbyist community, a guy who has been documented again and again by taking contributions and then doing favors for it. This is not a guy who is a reformer. This is a guy who has been in Washington for 25 years and wants to give us four more years of the same, and I don't think we need that.

Thank you Howard! I am sick of hearing how McCain is this goodie goodie maverick who sponsored some campaign finance legislation, so that he is some sort of angel. McCain needs to be painted as the scoundrel that he is and Dean does it perfectly. Of course that answer above wasn't all. He tied it into the election and spelled out an issue that we can beat him and the GOP on.

Q: Do you think that running against John McCain -- the Democratic Party -- that ethics is going to be an issue for him in this campaign?

Dean: Yes, because ethics is a huge issue anyway. People are tired of the incredible lack of ethics in the Bush Administration -- what we call the culture of corruption. I think they want somebody who is not going to do that any more, who is not going to mislead the American people -- whether it is on Iraq, or on lobbying or on taking public financing of campaigns, and who is not going to say one thing and do another.

Q: This whole matter, actually though, seems in a funny way to be helping Senator McCain, because the conservatives who were so skeptical about him now are rallying around him and saying he is a victim of the liberal New York Times. Isn't this a development that could actually wind up helping John McCain?

Dean: The conservatives are part of this culture of corruption that the Republicans have brought to Washington. Think of the Scooter Libby problem, the Alberto Gonzales problem, the Doug Feith problem. Think of all of the people in the Bush Administration that have had to leave office under a cloud -- Randy Cunningham, the Republican congressman.

Well, now it looks like John McCain is part of the corruption problem in Washington. He has done things that are legally questionable -- the Keating Five business back in the '90s -- but he doesn't seem to really have an ethical compass. He doesn't seem to have an instinct about what is the right thing to do and what isn't the right thing to do. He talks a good game, but he's just like all those Republicans in Washington have been for all these years, and I don't think the American people want a president like that.

The American people do want a change, and that change will come in November. McCain is an agent of the status quo and our nominee represents what most voters want. You can already see it in this primary season. Like Giuliani, American will find out about the real McCain and treat him appropriately.

And now it seems that the media is starting to realize it as well. It isn't about the possibility of some sex on the side, it is the lack of ethics and moral corruption that exists in our government.

GOP Wants Craig Gone In The Worst Way

To the Democrats delight, disgraced Senator Larry Craig continues to hang on past his "deadline" to resign from the Senate. As long as he remains in the Senate we can harp on him and he'll be one more reminder of the Republican party's culture of corruption and hypocrisy. Standing up against hate crimes legislation to protect gays while being one himself highlights the sheer lunacy of the GOP. Well the Republican leadership has the brains to recognize this, and they'll do whatever it takes to rid themselves of the Craig saga.

From The Washington Post:

Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho is a tough guy to run out of town.

Not that his Republican colleagues aren't trying. Worried that the disgraced lawmaker intends to remain in the Senate indefinitely, they are threatening to notch up the public humiliation by seeking an open ethics hearing on the restroom scandal that enveloped Craig last month.

The Senate hearing would examine the original charges in Craig's case, including the allegation of "interference with privacy," for peeping into the bathroom stall occupied by an undercover police officer. One senior Republican aide imagined "witnesses, documents, all in front of the klieg lights." The committee also could look for "a pattern of conduct" -- which means combing court records in other locales to discover whether Craig had prior arrests that haven't come to light.

When your friends turn against you like this it must be hard to endure. Larry is a persistent fellow though, he wants to hold on to his power no matter how shameful it is. Who knows how his wife feels, living the lie alongside her husband. The people of Idaho must be ashamed they elected this hypocrite and the country laughs at him while shaking our collective heads at the whole fiasco. Well, I am ready to keep laughing, too bad the GOP doesn't find it as funny as I do.

CREW Files Ethics Complaint Against Vitter

There has to be accountability for elected officials who screw up. Senator David Vitter is a prime example of a morally bankrupt politician that says and preaches one thing while doing the exact opposite. He "came clean" when his name was about to be released by the DC Madam, Deborah Palfrey. But the whole story is still buried and he denies many of the other allegations about him. Instead of apologizing he went on the offensive, disgracing his constituents and playing them as fools in the process. So the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington decided that they wanted to see the Senate investigate him so we can get to the bottom of the mess, take the appropriate action and move on.

From CREW:

Today, CREW filed a Senate Ethics complaint against Senator David Vitter (R-LA). We asked for an investigation into whether he violated the Senate Rules of Conduct by soliciting for prostitution. The complaint can be found here.

On July 9, 2007, it was revealed that Sen. Vitter's telephone number was included in the so-called "D.C. Madam," Deborah Jeane Palfrey's, list of client telephone numbers. Sen. Vitter confirmed that he had sought Ms. Palfrey's services, saying in a statement, "this was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible."

Two other women also have alleged that Sen. Vitter engaged the services of prostitutes. According to Jeanette Maier, the "Canal Street Madam," Senator Vitter visited a New Orleans, Louisiana brothel several times in the mid-1990s and a woman who worked as a prostitute under the name of Wendy Cortez has claimed that several years ago, Senator Vitter was a regular client of hers.

Engaging the services of a prostitute violates both District of Columbia and Louisiana criminal law.

Following the law isn't the most favorite pastime of David Vitter and other "morally superior" people, it is time to teach them a lesson.

Renzi Forgot To Mention A $200,000 Payment, Whoops!

Congressman Rick Renzi, who is under investigation for a shady land deal, tried to pull a fast one on prosecutors who are going over his history in the last few years. Renzi claims that the $200,000 he forgot to declare for the House Ethics Committee was a payment for an old debt that James Sandlin owed him previously. The problem is, the evidence is pointing to the money as a gift for an illegal land deal that Renzi made with a company called the Petrified Forest Group.

This story stinks like a pile of manure, which is exactly what Rick might find himself in soon enough. The real story looks a lot different than what he claims. A piece of land Sandlin owned hundreds of miles away from Renzi's old property was sold for $3 million more than he purchased it for a couple years prior. Renzi's big problem is that he was the one that helped facilitate the deal. Added on to that, the fact that Renzi failed to disclose the money shows an intent to conceal and that can lead to some serious justice for the Congressman. He may have voluntarily given up his committee assignment, but he still has a long way to fall before this is all over.

The Poor Paperclip

If only the White House had a fraction of the ethics in that little paper-clip: