A couple of weeks ago, <a href="http://cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/new-york-state-articles/bar…; target="_blank">in
a <i>City and State</i> column</a>, veteran NYC reporter Wayne Barrett
hit the nail on the head regarding the responsibility for failures
to deal responsibly with conflicts of interest, specifically with
respect to the conviction of former state assembly speaker Sheldon
Silver, a Democrat:<br><br><blockquote>
The Assembly’s Democratic conference is filled
with the high-minded, progressives on almost every big-picture
social issue. But, faced with the greatest moral test of their
lives, they looked away for years, shrugged, wrestled to find
fine lines, and prospered from their silence, too ambitious or
fearful to take on the elephant in their conference, a leader
who advertised his conflicts, if not his criminality. </blockquote><br>
It is important to
recognize that those who do nothing about their leaders' ethical
misconduct are doing so for their own personal benefit, even if
no cash is going directly into their pockets. Those who know should be required to report misconduct, and those who fail to report should be included in an ethics enforcement proceeding.<br>
<br>
In the same column,
Barrett also hits the nail on the head regarding the view that
you can't legislate morality, which has become the watchword of
Governor Cuomo and the new assembly speaker, Carl Heastie:<br><br>
<blockquote>Heastie has said he sees no need for ethics
reform legislation, saying “it comes down to an individual’s
morality,” a climate-like denial contradicted by 98 percent of
all scientists or anyone else with open eyes in New York.<br></blockquote><br>
I like that: government ethics deniers.
They should be pilloried just as much as they who deny climate
change or the Holocaust. But just about every politician lets
his colleagues get away with this sort of denial.<br>
<br />
Robert Wechsler<br />
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br />