| Governor Paterson's veto of the so-called ethics bill was upheld in the state Senate, as most Republicans voted to uphold it (note: they voted for the bill before they voted against the bill). The fact that politics trumped policy proved that we desperately need an ethics bill.
This bill wasn't it.
This bill created entities that would not have had any real power to require compliance with anything. The financial disclosure requirements had enormous loopholes (dare I say that they were specifically designed to benefit Sheldon Silver and John Sampson?). Overall, this would have allowed our corrupt politicians to claim the mantle of reform while locking in the very corruption they were claiming to end.
I give high marks to Governor Paterson for standing up and saying no, particularly in the face of overwhelming odds that his veto would be upheld.
I also give high marks to the folks at Common Cause, who were willing to call this bill the piece of garbage that it was, when every other self-described "good government group" was unwilling to say that the emperor had no clothes.
I give low marks to Senate Republicans for voting for a bill and then voting against it. If they truly believed that the bill was bad, they should have voted against it from the start. Hypocrites!
I give low marks to Democratic leadership in Albany, on both sides of the capitol, for pushing such rotten legislation. They should be ashamed of themselves, except that they seem to have no shame.
I have a warning to all New Yorkers -- fasten your seat belts. It's clear that our state government has not yet reached rock bottom, and that we will have to endure more corruption, childishness, and other shenanigans, hurting our state even more, before real action is taken.
The message of hope is that governments far worse than New York state's government have failed to bring down a society. We will endure, and we will come out of this with real government reform. It may take a couple more years before the process can truly begin, but it will happen, if only because there will be a tipping point where New Yorkers throw enough of the bums out to send a message to the bums who are left that they had better act like decent human beings.
Let's hope that message is sent this fall. |
