We Ask for Your Assistance
In Search for Honest Person,
Certainly Not Joseph Bruno
Henry J. Stern
January 29, 2009
Yesterday, at the conclusion of our article on untruthful politicians, we invited our readers to send us the names of public officials whom they considered to be particularly honest. One name suggested several times was Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who passed away in 2003 after representing New York in the United States Senate for twenty-four years. We had not specified whether your choices must be alive. They need not be.
We believe most people did not find our request for names, so we ask again in a more prominent position on the page. New York Civic would like to receive more nominations from our readers of people distinguished for honesty and integrity. We humbly make the same request that was asked of Lot.
We also thought of asking for suggestions for the brightest, most diligent and most responsive public officials. The problem is that the winners in those fields might well be also-rans on the integrity and truthfulness tests, so we limit ourselves – for today.
It is sad for us to comment only on elected officials’ departures from veracity. We would like to give credit to the truth-tellers as well as find fault with those who have lost their moral compass, assuming they ever had one. So we ask you now to let us know, by e-mail, who it is you feel is the most honorable and truthful public official you know, whether currently in or out of office, alive or dead. You can suggest more than one name. If you wish, you can tell us briefly why you chose that person.
The purpose of this exercise is to call public attention to the fact that there are honest men and women in public service, and that they are appreciated by others. They say that “Good news is no news,” meaning that virtue is not newsworthy. They also say that “No news is good news,” meaning that the less attention your work attracts, the more likely it is to succeed.
We can divide integrity into three general categories:
1) Financial honesty – Not asking for or accepting gifts or favors from people with whom you deal.
2) Intellectual honesty – Not supporting individuals or legislation which you know is opposed to the public interest, but which you think will benefit you.
3) Verbal honesty – Not telling falsehoods to a) the media b) groups you address c) individuals you meet.
We are not naïve, and we know the value of kind words and compliments that may not be entirely justified by the facts. Nor is it necessarily wrong to bargain and negotiate with others in order to pass legislation or secure public improvements or other benefits for your district. That is the way of the world. The line of propriety is difficult to draw precisely, but it is usually relatively clear when people have overstepped his bounds.
We are proud of our 11,000 readers. We want the benefit of your recommendations. Please send them to us.
Preoccupied with Governor Paterson’s awkward but venial (not venal) indiscretions, we have not written about a more important and disturbing situation. Read this:
COMMENT BY JOHN FUND IN TODAY’S WALL STREET JOURNAL ABOUT FORMER SENATE MAJORITY LEADER JOSEPH L. BRUNO
A New York State of Crime?
Ever wonder why the Republican Party has become so discredited in major states such as New York? A stark symbol last Friday was the indictment of Joe Bruno, one of the three most powerful men in the state for a dozen years while he served as New York State Senate majority leader. Mr. Bruno, who retired from public office at age 79 last year, insists he is innocent of the eight charges of corruption. But he now stands accused of soliciting business from 16 unions and a dozen corporations who later reimbursed him for the strings he pulled on their behalf. The indictment contends he raked in some $3 million from the scheme, including an $80,000 payment for a worthless racehorse that he sold to a wealthy friend.
At the heart of the charges against Mr. Bruno is a 1994 agreement that stipulated he would try to steer business to a Connecticut investment adviser that specialized in advising unions. Mr. Bruno was eventually paid more than $1.3 million for convincing 16 unions to invest with the Connecticut firm. Acting U.S. Attorney Andrew Baxter says the payments were concealed in a bogus consulting firm that Mr. Bruno set up.
Conservatives were often told by Mr. Bruno that the solicitous relationships his GOP caucus had with the state's labor unions was a matter of political necessity. "We have to live with them if we have any chance of keeping our majority that will prevent even more spending and big government," Mr. Bruno told me a few years ago.
Now we know that many of the concessions he made to the union agenda that have helped bankrupt New York State may have had a different origin: the fact that Mr. Bruno was indebted to his union friends for his post-political retirement nest egg.
-- John Fund
StarQuest
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