High crimes and misdemeanors, or why we're No. 1

Since time out of mind, Illinois has been the national poster child for government corruption. From the statehouse to the mayor's mansion, politicians in Illinois have led the league in investigations and indictments.

So it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the highly competitive political upper crust of New York should be a tad, well, jealous of not being number one. Over the past five years, this state's politicians have put their shoulders into it, and I am ready to declare victory: it appears that New York has overtaken Illinois for sheer weight of political malfeasance.

The big push started with Gov. Elliot Spitzer, who rode triumphantly into office on a promise of reform. He took little more than a year to fall from the height of power to the pit of national disgrace, being caught by the feds in a prostitution ring investigation. How the mighty fell.

Then Senate majority leader Joe Bruno, a pompous scion of the Republican establishment, was indicted and subsequently convicted of abusing his high office for personal gain.

Then Rep. Charles Rangel, the 15th Congressional District Democrat, was forced out of his powerful Ways and Means Committee chairmanship over a host of ethical charges, ranging from abuse of rent controlled apartments to selling influence. His departure from the leadership of arguably the most powerful committee in the House may only be the beginning; there is a very real possibility this scandal will cost him his seat.

And who can forget Rep. Eric Massa, 29th district Democrat, who resigned because he either had cancer, or was being investigated for charges of sexual harassment against a male aide, or was forced out by the White House because he opposed the health-care reform bill, or left office because aliens were secretly stealing his brain wave, or (substitute this week's excuse). He passed off the allegations that he tried to accost a male aide as a natural enjoyment of tickling members of his own sex. Hmmm.

And finally, there is the stench that just won't dissipate from Gov. David Paterson's apparent interference in a police investigation of an allegation of domestic abuse against his personal aide, David Johnson. No less a judicial luminary than former Court of Appeals Chief Justice Judith Kaye is special prosecutor into allegations that Paterson and, at his orders, members of his elite state police protection detail, directly interfered in the complaint lodged against Johnson by intervening with the woman Johnson is alleged to have choked, manhandled, stripped and kept from calling for help.

No working class is immune from the vagaries of humanity. From the union hall to the halls of power, there are bound to be a few bad apples. Unfortunately, while a laborer may steal from his boss, when our political leaders go bad, they are stealing from all of us, and betraying everyone who voted for the position they hold. If Rangel is guilty of the most egregious of the charges against him, he, like Bruno, should go to jail.

Massa, for who knows what reason, chose the slightly more honorable harakiri, although he has diluted his self-respect by subsequently coming up with a rolling list of excuses for his resignation. And, in a similar vein, state police Superintendent Harry Corbett retired rather than face the heat for the Johnson debacle.

As for Paterson, his part in this sordid affair has ensured he will be a footnote to history, an unelected, part-term governor who will be more remembered for the promise unfulfilled than any lasting legacy – perhaps as harsh a penalty as there is. And that is exactly as it should be.

It would be nice if voters could squeeze their would-be leaders before they vote for them, see if there are any rotten spots that would allow them to reject the candidate like moldering fruit. Unfortunately, there isn't. The vetting of candidates, absent any other reliable measurement, is up to the press. We need to do a better job of digging, of asking tough questions and seeking the man or woman behind the façade of public appearances and self-serving campaign statements. If public figures are sure that their peccadilloes, crimes and misdemeanors will be reported, they might be more hesitant to stray.