January 8, 2007
 
Cloud on the horizon.  IN HEVESI'S SEAT, RISING POTENTIAL FOR PARTY SPLIT, Friction Builds on Role of Governor in Process, Michael Cooper writes from Albany in today's Times, B1,c6.  The lede:  "Just days after being sworn in with a 19-gun salute, Gov. Eliot Spitzer is facing his first major political challenge -- and it comes, perhaps surprisingly, from his fellow Democrats who control the State Assembly."
 
Jump to graph five: "The fault lines were evident when Mr. Spitzer went into the Assembly chamber on Wednesday for his first address to a joint session of the Legislature.  Republican State Senators were much quicker to jump to their feet and applaud the new governor than the Assembly Democrats. "It all puts Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the Assembly, in a delicate position..."
 
Interestingly, the Times story, although published Monday, was dated Friday, Jan. 5, which shows that it only took about 100 hours for these rifts to arise.  There is an ideological as well as a personal component to the problem, some Assembly Democrats are radicals who thrive on victimization, follow political correctness, and have low regard for individual achievement.  If they make common cause with the disaffected and the ambitious problems could lie ahead.

Some Assemblymembers feel that the vacant position of State Comptroller should be filled from their ranks, and that they should not be disqualified from consideration because they hold elective political office.  It is true that it should not disqualify them, but it does not qualify them either to be chief financial officer of a corporation spending over $100 billion a year, or to be sole trustee of pension funds that now exceed $140 billion.  The argument that 'you can always hire professionals' rings hollow.  Why not hire a professional to be Comptroller; any rationally managed corporation would do that.

Diligent and ambitious legislators are in no way precluded from state-wide office.  They should  run for it, the way Spitzer, Suozzi, Cuomo and Green did.  Some will win and some will lose, the people will decide.  If you are a man of the people, go to them for support, do not expect to have a promotion handed to you.  It could also help to have a Comptroller whose eye was not on the governorship, as has often been the case with New York City comptrollers seeking the mayoralty (e.g. Abe Beame, Jay Goldin,  Alan Hevesi).
 
It may well be that, at this time, Silver is the most competent person in the Assembly to serve as Speaker.  Perhaps he can get the commuter tax reinstated.  He had the Assembly repeal it on May 17, 1999.  We do fault his ethical standards, particularly his job in the negligence firm of Weitz & Luxenburg, for which he is said to be paid a million dollars a year (The exact sum is a secret, as are his tax returns).  Whatever the rules for the 212 individual legislators, the Speaker of the Assembly and the Majority Leader of the Senate should be full-time state officials, and not engage in private business dealings.

What appears egregious here is that both Silver 's firm's law practice for plaintiffs and Bruno's 'consulting' work for private business are affected by state legislative action or inaction, with Bruno's services allegedly intimately related to his member items.  Notwithstanding ethical issues, Silver's political skills are highly regarded, as are Bruno’s.  That is how they get to stay leaders.


Issues of propriety involving use of cars by public officials are discussed by Sam Roberts on B5,c1 of the Times.  The point of the story is that it is difficult to draw precise lines with regard to motor vehicles and chauffeurs, but that in some situations misuse is apparent. A Brooklyn legislator (Roger Green) was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2004 for a fraudulent expense account (billing the state for expenses reimbursed by a contractor). He resigned from the Assembly and was re-elected that fall.  In 2006, he ran for Congress and came in third in the Democratic primary won by Congressman Ed Towns.
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In another story which has ethical implications, David Seifman reports in the Post, p8,c1, QUINN TAKING 1ST $TEP, Mayor Bid Brewing,  The lede:  "City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has taken the first concrete step to enter the 2009 mayoral race by hiring a hot shot fundraiser who previously worked for Gov. Spitzer, the Post has learned."
 
Now Christine Quinn is an honorable person, and, if she plans to run for Mayor, as her predecessor, Speaker Gifford Miller did, it is a political necessity for her to raise funds for a campaign, since she is not self-funded like the incumbent. She wants to comply with the law, and will take pains to do so. At the same time, she wants to stay in the race.
 
But what does it mean for a Speaker, the second most powerful official in city government, to be soliciting funds for three years while she makes key decisions on legislation which may have great financial impact on potential contributors and non-contributors? The media evaluate candidates and their chances, in part, on how much money they have raised.  Her potential rivals, Comptroller Bill Thompson, Congressman Anthony Weiner, term limited borough presidents (Adolfo Carrion) and councilmembers (Tony Avella), will be out there raising money.  The dream team candidate, Richard Parsons of Time Warner, doesn't have to solicit funds.  He will run for Mayor when Mike Bloomberg runs for President. 
 
This is Ms. Quinn’s dilemma.  If she doesn't raise money now, she gets off to a late start and is less likely to be taken seriously.  If she solicits funds, does she pass on each individual corporation to ascertain their financial interest in proposed or potential legislation?  Would these strictures apply to the other mayoral candidates, who will have fewer municipal issues to decide in the next three years?
 
We have in the past quoted the 1960's speaker of the California assembly, Jesse Unruh, to whom is attributed the saying, "Money is the mother's milk of politics."  BEGIN DIGRESSION (you can skip this): The rule was made more specific by feminists, who organized Emily's List, the name being an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast", meaning that it will rise and grow. Craig's List does not yet have a bacronym (a word formed when you have the acronym first, like the USA Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Acquired to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism of 2001). This is true, we did not make it up.   

For Craig’s list, we thought of ”Complete Registry of All Individual Needs", which works for Crain, the publisher, but not Craig Newmark, the list mogul.   E-mail us with your suggestions for Craig if you are so inclined. END DIGRESSION. 
 
The invaluable internet yields another relevant political quote about lobbying from “Big Daddy”, or Speaker Unruh, who in his day was the kingmaker of the Golden State:  "If you can't take their money, drink their booze, eat their food, screw their women, and still look them in the eye and vote against them, you don't belong here." (Here means Sacramento, which is their Albany)
 
In fact, ethics is a more difficult area than it first appears.  We demand integrity in government. It is a prerequisite for sound decisions that the judge not be corrupted by money or other temptations (described by Unruh).   The ethical issues we have described so far are not, however, borderline questions. Dual employment of key decision makers totally fails the nose test.   The use of an anatomical standard to make decisions is not new, judges and law professors have relied on used it to define pornography when words fail.

Reformers often fixate on rules changes when what is really needed is a change in lifestyle for incumbents, who year by year become more convinced of their own wisdom and virtue.  Fair and honest nonpartisan districting would loosen some of them form their cocoons. In the Democratic landslide of 2006, with Spitzer winning almost 70 percent of the vote, the only Senate seat the Democrats gained was one where the incumbent had won in 2004 by only 18 votes.  Credit for that belongs to the skilled Republican linesmen and their computers.

Corrections: 1) William Golding, not Goldman, wrote "Lord of the Flies" in 1954.  2) "Wuthering Heights", by Charlotte Bronte, was first made into a motion picture in 1939.  It starred (pre-Sir) Lawrence Olivier, Merle Oberon, young David Niven and Geraldine Fitzgerald.  It was also filmed in 1992, as we reported, with Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliffe, Juliet Benoche, Janet McTeer and Jeremy Northman.  The first cast was clearly more distinguished than their successors.


#342  01.08.07   1459wds