Albany is poised to hit a notable milestone: It will soon be five years since the last time a sitting state legislator was arrested on corruption charges. It’s a point worth recognizing for a state Capitol where a week without an arrest would have been seen as a break in the action at some points in recent history, POLITICO reports today. “We had a lot of rehabilitation of our image to do. We had just really been in such a difficult place,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said. “We had to focus on ethics. We had to focus on our own responsibility as people who were representing a broader constituency than ourselves.” State government certainly hasn’t avoided scandals in recent years, as anybody familiar with ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s downfall is well aware. Notably, the streak only counts if you exclude Brian Benjamin — who was arrested while lieutenant governor for allegedly illegal fundraising practices that occurred while he was a senator running for New York City office. And former Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb was charged with a DWI in 2019 that led him to step down from his leadership post. But the last arrest of a sitting state legislator on the sort of corruption charge that made Albany nationally infamous for years occurred in the fall of 2018. That’s a dramatic departure from the norm for a Legislature where dozens of lawmakers were arrested in the years preceding that, including six in top leadership posts. So what has changed? Some of the shift might be due to conscious action taken by lawmakers in the wake of last decade’s scandals. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie pointed to a new requirement that legislators obtain approval for their outside jobs: “I think that coordination has probably been the number one reason we’ve seen less issues,” he said. Other observers noted a decreased level of enforcement from the federal government in the wake of Supreme Court decisions rolling back anti-corruption laws and the departure of ex-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. There’s also a general agreement that there are fewer shamelessly crooked legislators than in the days of people like Pedro Espada. And maybe lawmakers have simply learned their lesson. “Perhaps the shock of seeing the former speaker indicted and jailed and the former majority leader also indicted and jailed, and other governmental officials charged and reprimanded, has sent a message,” Assemblymember Charles Lavine said. HAPPY MONDAY Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE’S KATHY? Making a transportation infrastructure announcement in the Bronx. WHERE’S ERIC? Arriving in Israel and attending a reception with Israeli faith and ethnic leaders in Jerusalem, as well as meeting with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I quickly realized this was not a normal workplace" — Di Ma, a former assistant counsel for the state Gaming Commission in a Times Union report about misconduct at the agency.
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