| True, this is an indictment of Senator Gonzalez and his "parnters," but it's also an indictment of the entire system in Albany.
This act of larceny would, most likely, have gone unoticed if it weren't for the recent public release of details concerning the legislature's pork (member item) appropriations. The pork information was secured only after the Times Union sued Joe Bruno and Shelly Silver for its release. Yes, that's right. A newspaper had to sue the leadership of our own legislature in order to make public details about how our own tax dollars were being stolen spent.
It's true that because of the suit, the appropriations will be made public in the future, but the selection process (what selection process?) and oversite of the appropriations will not substantially be altered. Until each and every appropriation is included as a line item in the budget along with the sponsoring Senator's name attached, the member item system will remain corruptable. If Gonzalez could do it, so could any one else. It's the broken system, stupid.
And it's not just this one area that needs a complete public house cleaning. The Member Item money pot isn't the only secret slush fund in Albany that the legislators have access to...and, because they haven't been made public, it begs the question, "How much more of this corruption is going on that we don't know about?"
No, the job of reform doesn't stop with one indictment. If anything, it shows that our job has just begun.
How many more need to be indicted? How much more dysfunction do we need to uncover? How much more trust in our government in Albany do we need to lose before we wake up and finally kill this rancid "make work incumbency program" that is our state legislature?
It's time we return New York State Government to its rightful owners - the people. |
