There are just 10 days left in the legislative session in Albany and still no agreement on any ethics reform legislation.
Recently, many of you responded to our petition and poll, making clear which reforms you want to see enacted before lawmakers go home. We took your responses to Albany to show them to Republican and Democratic leaders.
There’ been an interesting twist in the ongoing corruption investigation swirling around New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo. The Mayor has apparently had enough of all these pesky questions and he’s no longer going to cooperate with any such lines of inquiry. That might not normally be newsworthy since these are no doubt uncomfortable questions to answer, but the unique aspect of the story is who the Mayor is blaming. You see, this isn’t some Vast Right Wing Conspiracy seeking to take him down – at least as de Blasio tells it – but rather an attack from Democrat Andrew Cuomo’s office. (New York Post)
Justice has been served — on a Silver platter.
Former State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison for using his vast power to line his own pockets with $5.3 million.
If you live in New York State, this story probably bring echoes of times not all that far in the past. Governor Andrew Cuomo ran for the highest office in the state on a promise to clean up the endemic corruption in Albany and the results of his efforts were, shall we say… mixed at best. (More on that below.) But with new corruption stories showing up in the press on a weekly basis, Cuomo has announced that even though some of the allegations involve activities in his own office, he’s all over this one, guys. (Journal News)
“This is not a particularly good day for the department,” a sullen Bill Bratton said Thursday, as he dropped the hammer on four top commanders who are the targets of an escalating federal corruption probe.
The police commissioner stripped two of the men of their guns and badges and yanked the other two from their commands — a harsh penalty he followed up with a warning to the rest of his officers to keep their noses clean.
Scientists and statisticians caution against looking at a small cluster of events and deriving a trend. A cluster of events involving military and civilian agency corruption can make one wonder, is the military becoming more corrupt? Is the federal government becoming more corrupt?
The bigger picture says no. Let’s hope not. To a nation, corruption is a virulent form of cancer.
Once it gets to a certain point, there’s no return. In the U.S. and in particular the federal government, we’ve got pretty strong institutional safeguards and personal biases against corruption.
More than 40 prison guards and officers in Georgia have been indicted on charges of accepting bribes and drug trafficking.
The arrests Thursday are the latest in a federal effort to crack down on contraband and criminal activity in Georgia prisons. About 130 people – including prison employees, inmates, former inmates and others accused of helping them – have been indicted since September.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Fourteen people – including 7 current or ex-law enforcement officers — have been convicted in a massive drug sting operation that focused on areas of Eastern North Carolina, officials say.
On April 13, 2015, federal prosecutors announced the arrest of 15 people in “Operation Rockfish,” which the government said involved drug corruption among then-active law enforcement agents in the I-95 corridor of NC.
Most New York voters say it’s time for the state’s 213 legislators to be considered full-time, with their current $79,500 base salary unchanged and outside earnings prohibited, according to new poll released Monday.
The Siena poll shows the overwhelming majority of voters, 89%, think corruption is a serious problem in Albany. Two-thirds say it’s a serious problem among legislators from their own area.
Several government reform advocates back curbing legislators’ outside income as one way of addressing corruption and conflicts of interest. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed limiting it to 15% of state pay, similar to the limit on Congress.
ALBANY — The FBI has taken “See Something, Say Something” to a new area: government corruption.
New electronic billboards on a highway located a stone’s throw from the state Capitol asks the public to call or email tips about possible corruption.