Herald Endorsement

Kaminsky is the choice to clean up Albany

Posted

On April 19, voters in the 9th Senate District will decide who will replace Sen. Dean Skelos, the disgraced majority leader, and, potentially, which party will control the State Senate. As readers have no doubt noticed, a mountain of money has been spent on this race among Democratic State Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky, Republican Chris McGrath and Green Party candidate Laurence “Seth” Hirsh, because it could tip the balance of power in the Senate and end the hegemony of the so-called “Long Island 9,” the Republican Long Island Senate delegation that was the source of much of Skelos’s power.

The corruption scandals that ended the political careers of Skelos and former State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver shed light on the state’s lax ethics laws and sparked an outcry against corruption in Albany. But instead of seizing the moment to enact meaningful ethics reform, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and new Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the new “three men in a room,” have hunkered down and seem to be waiting for the public outrage to subside.

In a speech last Friday to the New York Press Association, Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney who convicted Silver and Skelos, said that the culture of institutions matters, and the culture in Albany is toxic.

The first step in solving any problem is to acknowledge that it exists. Thirty-three members of the Legislature have left office due to criminal or ethical issues since 2000. We don’t believe they all went to Albany intent on violating the public trust. The system is broken. The culture in the Capitol has to change.

Todd Kaminsky knows this, and has fought to change things, both as an assistant U.S. attorney and in the Assembly. Chris McGrath seems to feel that the problem is a few bad apples who can be weeded out by prosecution and the threat of losing their pensions. For that reason, first and foremost, Kaminsky has our vote.

We believe that Kaminsky, 38, will continue his effort to bring accountability to the Legislature. During his first year in office, he has demonstrated the kind of confidence and aggressiveness that it takes to get things done.

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