Some days I think New York State government could declare itself a kleptocracy and change the Three Men in a Room's titles to Chief Thief, Robber King, and Maximum Chaos and most New Yorkers wouldn't do anything different.
The Albany Times-Union remains slightly more optimistic:
"We're loath to underestimate almost any politician's vulnerability to temptation and tendency to engage in corruption. But could the plot alleged by federal authorities have been hatched in an environment where political money wasn't already wildly out of control?...
Time to take it back, then, New Yorkers -- step by step. Don't let the Legislature get away with anything less than historic reform."
I'm not sure that things are actually worse than they've been for a while, but they sure aren't getting better. The institutions are rotted through, but somehow we keep pretending they function. "Our legislator or our party is so much better," we tell ourselves, hoping that it's true.
Posted by simon at April 4, 2013 9:10 AM in