Dean Skelos, the former New York State Senate majority leader, was found guilty on all counts of corruption allegations levied against him as the verdict was read in court on Friday December 11th in a win for honest governance. The accusations come as New York State struggles to deal with a string of corruption charges against influential politicians in recent months after the former Assembly Speaker Adam Silver was also convicted of his corruption charges on November 30th.

“The swift convictions of Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos beg an important question; how many prosecutions will it take before Albany gives the people of New York the honest government they deserve” United States Attorney Preet Bharara said on Friday following the reading the of the conviction. Mr. Bharara has been overseeing the trials of both politicians.

The two politicians are not the only representatives in Albany who have been convicted or have had charges of corruption brought up against them. Over the last 12 years, 43 elected officials have been accused of misusing their own office for personal gain or have had corruption charges officially brought against them, making Albany one of the most corrupt state capitals in the United States.

“The corruption in the state legislature in Albany has not been episodic” Mr. Bharara continued in his statement.

“It’s been systemic and if nothing else, the trials revealed that there’s a deep culture problem and a matter of factness about how at least these two defendants who’ve now been found guilty, went about their daily corrupt business with barely a thought about it.”

Mr. Skelos was convicted of eight counts of fraud and also eight counts of bribery. The accusations stem from Mr. Skelos using his time in public office to have three businesses around New York State pay his son, Adam Skelos, who was also in the indictment, $300,000 for what prosecutors termed “ no show jobs”. He also used his influence to threaten the businesses involved by withdrawing support for specific bills in Albany that would benefit the connected businesses.

“The idea that the chair of the ethics committee has never had the opportunity to mark up a bill, has never had the opportunity to hold a hearing, tells you everything you need to know about the enabling nature of all the people in the state legislature, who may not have been convicted of crimes, but seem not to care that they’re going on. I think that’s indisputable”.

The committee that Mr. Bharara was referring to was titled the Moreland Commission, which was created in July 2013 by Governor Andrew Cuomo to investigate corruption in Albany and was later disbanded after nine months.
Former Assembly speaker man Silver is a Democrat from Manhattan and former Senate Majority leader Skelos was a representative from Long Island.

Robert Gage, who is the lawyer who represented Mr. Skelos said that he “was disappointed and that they would vigorously pursue post-trial motions to overturn the verdict.”

The sentencing date for Mr. Skelos is set for March 3rd, 2016. In the end, the U.S Attorney for the state of New York is doing the right thing in trying to rid one of the most corrupt state capitals of unworthy politicians whether they are Republicans or Democrats. He is simply trying to make Albany a capital where honest governance can possibly happen again.

LINKS:

1) New York Times
2) Reuters
3) Syracuse.com