17 April 2022: Editorial - Albany Dems in Ethical Free Fall

Ethically, Democrats in Albany are in free fall

This editorial decrying the repeated ethical failings of the Democratic party majority in Albany appeared in the Watertown Daily Times on 17 April 2022:

How have Democrats in Albany abused the public’s trust? Let me count the ways.

Less than eight months on the job, Brian A. Benjamin resigned last week after being arrested on federal charges of campaign finance fraud. He had a questionable background and should not have been appointed. But Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul ignored the red flags and named him to the post anyway....

Seeing how former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo dashed for the exit door under a cloud of scandal, you’d expect Hochul to take necessary precautions while ascending to the top spot. But she and the people surrounding her were careless in their selection process. This was her first major decision as governor, so it reflects very poorly on her record.

This hasn’t been the only blemish that Hochul has displayed. She promised to clean house when she became governor. She also said she would usher in a new era of transparency in the executive branch.

She’s failed on both counts.

For some bizarre reason, Dr. Howard Zucker was allowed to remain state health commissioner for nearly a month after Hochul took over. He should have been the first person she booted. Zucker sat silently by while Cuomo co-opted the state Health Department to conceal data related to the number of nursing home residents who died as a result of COVID-19.

And Hochul permitted James J. Malatras to remain SUNY chancellor for more than three months despite his well-known history of verbally abusing subordinates. Why didn’t she make good on her promise to restore confidence in state government?

Hochul appointed Dr. Mary T. Bassett to succeed Zucker as state health commissioner. She has refused to conduct an internal investigation into why DOH officials and staffers went along with Cuomo’s plan to conceal the truth. How can she expect to improve the agency she now leads when she ignores the ways in which it was corrupted?

Hochul is not the only Democrat to sidestep accountability. While they pressured Cuomo to resign, state legislators refused to carry out impeachment proceedings. This would have brought all the allegations of wrongdoing to light and, if he was convicted, may have prohibited him from seeking elective office again. They chose to sweep everything under the rug.

Indeed they have. For her part, Hochul came into power promising to clean house, but that pledge apparently only applied to members of Andrew M. Cuomo's administration who were named in the state attorney general's report on the disgraced governor's alleged sexual harassment abuses. At this point, she and other officials have utterly dropped the ball for addressing Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals.

From a legal perspective, at what point do elected officials become accessories after the fact when crimes have been committed by their fellow politicians under New York state law?