The New York Sun
October 6, 2004
Take Off the Kid Gloves
Editorial
It's a little hard to take seriously all the talk about reform from our state
lawmakers when so many of them continue treating the disgraced former senator
from the Bronx, Guy Velella, as someone deserving of respect, sympathy, and
kid-glove treatment. On Thursday, for example, the Republican majority leader
of the Senate, Joseph Bruno, responded to the recent outcry for change at
Albany by appointing a task force on government reform. On the very same
day, however, Mr. Bruno also declared that Velella's early release from Rikers
Island, after three months of a one-year sentence, was "a good thing."
Mr. Bruno apparently feels that his former colleague has suffered enough,
having lost both his elected office and his license to practice law. Velella
"has been financially hurt and really publicly disgraced," Mr. Bruno said.
"He served 100 days in jail, and there was no great justice in keeping him
behind bars."
By our lights, Velella's debt to society easily exceeds the full year. He
did, after all, plead guilty to taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes
for helping steer state contracts to undeserving companies. In effect, he
put his public trust up for sale. As the leader of the Senate - and, indeed,
as one of Velella's friends - Mr. Bruno has a special duty to shun that behavior.
This is the same Mr. Bruno who - when the allegations against Velella first
surfaced years ago - accused the district attorney pursuing the investigation,
Robert Morgenthau of Manhattan, of engaging in a politically motivated witch
hunt. Mr. Bruno was also among those who funneled thousands of dollars into
Velella's campaign committee last year to help cover his legal fees.
Even since the guilty plea, we are not aware that Mr. Bruno has uttered a
single word of repudiation for his former colleague, or any kind of apology
to Mr. Morgenthau. On Thursday, in fact, he did not rule out supporting Velella
for re-election in the future. He takes his loyalty too far.
Mr. Bruno is not alone in his misplaced solicitude for a felon. The Local
Conditional Release Commission - which approved only five of more than 7,000
applications over the past year - granted Velella his early freedom after
receiving no fewer than 32 letters in his support, including missives from
Mayor Koch, the archdiocese of New York, Representative Eliot Engel, retired
judges, and community leaders of the Bronx.
The commission might better have listened to the words of the judge who sentenced
Velella last May, Joan Sudolnik of the state Supreme Court at Manhattan.
"It has been said that this case is a tragedy, but it is a tragedy not for
the defense but for the voters and taxpayers," Judge Sudolnik said. "We can
ill afford further erosion of public trust."
Governor Pataki seems to get it, too. "I'm concerned about the message it
sends," Mr. Pataki said of Velella's premature liberation. "We want to have
equal justice for people. That's an important part of our criminal justice
system."
Perhaps those who empathize with Velella - particularly his fans in the Legislature
- recognize that there is a fine line between his misbehavior and business
as usual at the Capitol. What is he guilty of, in the end, but using his
power as an elected official to squeeze money out of those with business
before state government? This is the standard way that Albany pols fill their
campaign accounts. If Velella had retired from the Senate, and hung a shingle
as a lobbyist, he could no doubt have peddled his influence for millions
of dollars without fear of retribution from Mr. Morgenthau.
Even before he crossed the line to bribe-taking, Velella embodied much of
what is corrupt about the Albany culture. He thrived not by advancing good
government, but by trading favors with special interests. His claim to fame
was his ability to funnel pork-barrel dollars to the Bronx from Albany, much
of which, no doubt, did little but grease the machinery of the poverty industry.
He was also the poster boy of Albany gerrymandering. The Republicans who
drew his district went so far out of their way to exclude minorities that
one civil rights attorney likened its outline to a "dismembered lobster."
That he could still wield influence from behind bars, and win a favor denied
to ordinary inmates, is as discouraging as it is impressive. Any serious
effort to fix Albany must reject this dubious legacy. And any politician
who wants credibility as a reformer will show Velella contempt rather than
collegiality.
© 2004 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC