Talking Points Memo tackles the task of figuring out why New York State is so corrupt… and entirely misses the point: the state is a wholly owned Democratic fiefdom, run out of its electoral stronghold in New York City and its environs to the detriment of the few honest people left Upstate.
How quickly the mighty fall: less than a week after longtime New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D) was arrested on federal corruption charges, his fellow Democrats have decided to replace him.
Although the criminal complaint from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office hit at the very top of the legislature’s food chain, Silver was merely the latest in a long line of state lawmakers who have been whacked with federal corruption charges. Bharara’s office has convicted at least a dozen elected officials in recent years and is in the process of prosecuting even more.
Which all begs the question: Just how did New York state get so damn corrupt? TPM talked to some people who know New York politics to find out how the state got this way. Here are five points to know about the mess:
There follows five points — the folks at the top don’t want change; the only people who count are the “three men in the room,” governor, assembly speaker and senate president; “ethics laws” (stop laughing) are weak and “blurry”; the state lacks anti-corruption forces; and Albany’s “culture of insiders.” Well, where the hell do you think all those problems came from? Left unmentioned is the only that actually does matter, which is that Democrats — all together now: a criminal organization masquerading as a political party — have a death grip on the former Empire State and won’t let go until they succeed in killing the body politic.
No wonder people are fleeing the state.
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