Crains New York - April 8, 2013 - (Page 11)

Rotten to the core: why NY is so corrupt N ew York is much more corrupt than other places, as U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara suggested last week in announcing the arrests of state Sen. Malcolm Smith, City Councilman Daniel Halloran, two Republican county chairmen and two suburban officials in a brazen scheme to corrupt the GOP mayoral primary and make money on a real estate deal. And that was before Mr. Bharara announced the arrest of a state assemblyman, caught in a sting with another Bronx assemblyman who was cooperating with authorities to avoid prosecution. The question that isn’t getting enough attention is why. Here is a guide to some of the usual answers and the ones that make the most sense. ⅷ It’s because we don’t have public financing of elections. This is the fa- vorite of the do-good groups, which held a press conference to make their case right after the scandal broke. They say that the way candidates raise campaign funds is corrupting.New York City proves them wrong. All the members of the City Council are elected by participating in what the experts say is the best system of public financing in the country. And many of them have gone to jail anyway. Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who shunned the system, has run the most honest administration in history. There may be a case for public financing, though New York City’s system stacks the deck in favor of a few groups (like unions) at the expense of others (like businesses). It will not end corruption. ⅷ It’s because New York prosecutors are better than their peers elsewhere. If only this were true. Yes, the South- ern District, which Mr. Bharara heads, is the most prestigious for young prosecutors. But the Eastern District, which covers Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, and is Pols who have no say in important issues are prone to wrongdoing combined in the chart below, doesn’t have the same cachet. The U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois can attract the best young lawyers in the Midwest, too. Ditto for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for L.A. It’s not like we are comparing SHADY AREAS Ranked by federal public corruption convictions 1,963 1976-2010 2002-2011 1,531 1,275 1,005 391 Downstate New York 370 375 Northern Illinois (Chicago) Central California (L.A.) Sources: Study by University of Illinois at Chicago professor Dick Simpson; U.S. Department of Justice Public Integrity Section annual report 333 District of Columbia GREG DAVID New York to Des Moines. ⅷ It’s because New York spends so much money. It is true that projects in New York are big, like the Aqueduct casino, where Mr. Smith previously tried to pull some fast ones, though he was never charged with a crime. So this one has some validity. ⅷ It’s because New York’s election laws are so stupid. This is Mr. Bloomberg’s explanation, and he’s on the money. New York is the only large city without nonpartisan elections, which creates the kind of opportunity that two city GOP chairmen used to allegedly solicit bribes. Allowing candidates to run on more than one party’s line is also corrupting, as the mayor’s manipulation of the Independence Party shows. So does the way Liberal Party patronage led to corruption under Rudy Giuliani. ⅷ It’s about power and, more important, powerlessness. No one is less in- fluential than a City Council member, except maybe a New York state assemblyman or senator. The City Charter not only makes the mayor more powerful than his counterparts elsewhere in the country, but Christine Quinn has made the council speaker more powerful than before. Once, the chairman of the council’s Land Use Committee mattered; now I don’t know who that person is, nor do I need to. Council people matter only when there is a controversial land-use project in their district, which happens only rarely. So they spend their time posturing and trying to get as much discretionary money to hand out as the speaker will give them, which makes them completely dependent on the speaker. It’s the same in Albany,where the legislative leaders and the governor decide all issues in small conferences. While the leaders can’t completely ignore the views of their members, they don’t have to pay much attention because they control money for member items and committee assignments that boost legislators’ pay. Would you want a job like that, in which you had no say in all the important budget and policy issues? I don’t think so. So the people who run for these jobs are either happy to be involved in doing what little they can to help their districts, or they are interested in using their jobs to help themselves. Either way, they are so far from being the best and brightest. April 8, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 11 http://www.mogil.com http://www.mogil.com http://www.crainsnewyork.com/podcasts

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - April 8, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
SMALL BUSINESS
OPINION
GREG DAVID
REPORT: BANKING
THE LISTS
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE DEALS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - April 8, 2013