| Whether you agree with it or not, Senator Parker was convicted for committing a misdemeanor assault. I understand that there may be issues with the case, but the jury has spoken. Under the standards we set through expelling Hiram Monserrate, Kevin Parker should arguably be expelled. You can argue that there's something more heinous about domestic violence, but that creates an unacceptably flexible standard where the Senate gets to decide which crimes are and aren't repulsive enough for expulsion.
The public will have no tolerance for this. Either we agree that officials are elected or rejected by their voters or we agree that if you are convicted of a misdemeanor, you're ejected from the Senate because you've brought shame to the Chamber and the people of New York.
But instead we have our caucus apologizing for Senator Parker and explaining away the differences between misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor assault. This will not end well.
In the two years of majority control, our side showed less interest in building a progressive, transparent, and simply good government. Instead we frittered away the opportunity, passed a muddied down ethics reform bill, and were then betrayed by two of the worst of our caucus.
Thankfully our caucus is a whole lot better this upcoming term. I'm excited by the prospects of Senators Carlucci, Gianaris, and Avella. And I'm relieved to be rid of Senator Monserrate and Espada. But until we actually stand up and act on progressive principles of a reform government, we are risking our claim as the party of reform.
Dean Skelos today sounds like he's quite interested in expelling Senator Parker. It's an easy call for him; he doesn't have to defend a member of the opposing caucus and there's no harm to him in expelling a convicted Senator. And the public will notice that it's the Republicans, not the Democrats, standing up for the ethics of the state by expelling a convicted Senator.
What if Dean Skelos goes even further and starts passing ethics reform and transparency legislation? What if the Republicans, frustrated by their two years in the minority and paranoid about a future in the minority, start to take the Brennan Center reports to heart?
I'm not saying it will happen; after all from what I understand Skelos is about as average a politician as you can expect. But we find ourselves in a potentially precarious position where the Republicans now have the ability to link themselves up with Cuomo and steal the mantle of reform from us. Their version of reform will include cutting spending and chopping down good, middle class jobs in the public sector. It won't be anything like the sort of progressive agenda we would propose. But they could wrap their proposals in good government measures and steal the mantle of reform from us.
If they do, it will be the Democratic Party that feels the pain on the state level. And it will be the progressive agenda that will suffer.
This is a fear we should recognize, and a future we should work to avoid. It's time to start pressuring our Democratic members of the Legislature to hold ourselves up to the standards of reform. |
