Member of Cuomo's anti-corruption commission calls New York state legislators corrupt
William Fitzpatrick, co-chairman of Governor Andrew Cuomo's anti-corruption league, hit the state legislature with accusations of extreme corruption, saying, "The problem is, clearly, that there is a systemic corruption within the New York state Legislature that needs to be addressed".
BY KENNETH LOVETT DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF Tuesday, October 22, 2013, 10:29 PM A A A
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, center, speaks during a news conference as New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, left, and Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick listen on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, in Albany, N.Y. Cuomo has established a powerful investigative body to examine the state Board of Elections and potential wrongdoing by legislators in campaign fundraising. Cuomo announced his attentions two weeks ago after abandoning efforts this year at legislative reforms. That followed federal bribery and embezzlement charges filed against several state lawmakers. Fitzpatrick is c-chairman of the commission. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
MIKE GROLL/AP
“Thirty members of the Governor’s staff haven’t been walked out in handcuffs in the last five years,” William Fitzpatrick said during a public radio interview. “Thirty members of the attorney general’s office haven’t been walked out in handcuffs in the last five years.”
ALBANY — A co-chairman of Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission ripped into the Legislature on Tuesday, calling it riddled with corruption.
“Thirty members of the Governor’s staff haven’t been walked out in handcuffs in the last five years,” William Fitzpatrick said during a public radio interview. “Thirty members of the attorney general’s office haven’t been walked out in handcuffs in the last five years.”
“The problem is, clearly, that there is a systemic corruption within the New York state Legislature that needs to be addressed,” he said — making it clear that’s where the main focus of the Moreland Commission’s investigation lies.
Fitzpatrick painted an ugly hypothetical portrait of teaching kids about how the modern-state Legislature works. “Now, if you were to do something in school, I think you’d probably have to shift gears and maybe go to a yacht and have champagne and hors d’oeuvres being served and people smoking cigars and so forth and so on and bags of cash being left around,” he said.
Angry insiders called Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney, a hypocrite — noting he has been criticized for using his campaign funds for trips to Hawaii and Hilton Head, golf outings and lavish meals.
“Moreland loses credibility when its co-chairs say, ‘Trust us, we’re clean,’ while arguing that everyone else is behaving with malicious intent,” said one source.
Scandal has plagued not just the Legislature but the previous two governors and former Controller Alan Hevesi, who went to prison, the insiders note.
The panel has sent subpoenas to the law firms of legislators who are lawyers seeking info on their income and clients to see if there are conflicts of interest — a move critics have blasted as unconstitutional. Fitzpatrick dismissed the claims as “absurd.”
The real problem, he said, is that many of the pols probably did nothing to earn their outside income
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....493476#ixzz2yTRY9CaN
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