Once again ,the story in New York politics concerns the arrest of an elected official on corruption charges. This time, federal prosecutors have arrested Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson and four others. These arrests follow on the heels of the charges prosecutors brought against state Sen. Malcolm Smith and five others last week.
The news has everyone asking why New York seems to lead the nation in political corruption and the arrest and indictment of public officials. As U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, "not every state legislature has this degree of criminality that's been exposed. So clearly there is some problem here. ... There continues to be, even after a parade of politicians have been hauled off to prison, a lack of transparency, lack of self-disclosure, a lack of self-policing, a lack of will and a failure of leadership."
Sadly, the data support Bharara's claim. Twenty-nine of the state's elected officials have been accused of improprieties, censured or convicted since 2007.
What has been largely missed in much of the discussion, however, is that, believe it or not, there is some good news to come out of these cases. The bright spot in this story is that, according to the feds, at least one state senator proved to be immune from the "that's politics in New York, it's all about money" attitude.
According to a statement released by the Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe's office when an undercover FBI agent approached Sen. David Carlucci, D-Rockland County, he "acted appropriately, and in a manner one would expect from an elected official carrying out his or her sworn duties."
It remains unclear why the agent approached Carlucci or whether he reported the contact to authorities. At a time when we have been overwhelmed by stories of wrongdoing by politicians, it is good to know that, at least according to the DA, one official couldn't be bought off.
Carlucci said that like most New Yorkers, he was shocked by what happened. He also added that the "fundamental reason he ran for office in the first place [is] to clean up the culture of corruption that pervades our politics."
There is a good deal that can and should be done to clean up the system including, but not limited to, serious consideration of legislative earmarks, getting rid of New York's antiquated voting laws and professionalizing the state Legislature. We can and should consider these and other serious reforms but until they are enacted we will continue to be dependent on the morals and ethics of our elected politicians.
The media can help, too, by covering cases in which people like Carlucci have had the audacity to act with integrity.
Zaino teaches at Iona College.