Politics

Kaminsky discusses his first State Senate session

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Sen. Todd Kaminsky spoke to Herald intern Courtney McGee about Albany, corruption and his first session as a state senator.
Sen. Todd Kaminsky spoke to Herald intern Courtney McGee about Albany, corruption and his first session as a state senator.
Micah Danney/Herald

You have prosecuted politicians for corruption, and now you’re a politician in a place that is widely viewed as rife with corruption. What have you learned from your time in Albany?

There’s no doubt that there are a lot of things in Albany that are problematic but also legal, so it’s not so much from a prosecutorial perspective. There are a lot of things wrong that I see we need to correct and they do have something to do with ethics. We often, for example, are asked to vote on bills that we got a few hours earlier. You could protest and be absent for it, but then you’re not helping anyone. Why is that OK? Why is business as usual okay?

We have a $150 billion state budget and I think we need to spend more time caring about the problems of our state and being at our legislative capacity, not just during the legislative session. We don’t hold enough hearings. We do things at the last second. Everyone has this feeling of wanting to get home and it’s like, this is our job. We don’t pay enough attention to the things we need to do, and that’s connected to outside income. The system is meant so that you could have another job for the other half of the year, like this is something you do on the side, but it’s too important for that and people get in trouble for that.

Do lines get blurred once a person is inside that culture?

When you say to me lines get blurred — if you’re focused on your job and you’re doing it right, nothing gets blurred. It gets blurred when you stop thinking about what your priorities are. We have a system where you can say to someone, “I’d like to hire your law firm,” and that same day say to them, “I’d like help with this bill.” It’s a totally messed up system and at least seven people have gone to jail for it. There are all types of cases that come up to the line and maybe not cross it. But people shouldn’t be thinking about the best way to serve their client or the best way to get new business. They should be thinking of the best way to help their district, and that, I don’t think, happens all the time. The way business is done in Albany is not always the best, and then when you throw in our campaigns with all the money that has to be raised and all of the time that goes into that — a lot of the same people that want to give you money are the same institutional players — then you can understand why lines get blurred. But I think if you focus on what you should focus on, it shouldn’t be an issue.

Can this realistically be legislated?

Yeah, 100 percent. None of these are intractable problems or unsolvable problems. There are definitely solutions, but the people who run the Senate don’t seem to be interested in changing that. Business as usual works for a lot of people, but I don’t think it works for the state or the average person. There are real fixes for these things. Why can members of Congress have their salaries and workdays set at a certain level and they’re not allowed to work as lawyers and we’re totally fine with that, but when it comes to us — I mean, we could change the law in a minute. We could obviously make our campaign finance system more fair so that people can’t dump tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars into the system. This is not from nature, this is just the system we’ve set up and we can certainly change it.

What are the major obstacles to reform?

I certainly think there are a lot of people who don’t want reforms and certainly don’t want to push for the right ones. I think voters want politicians to work together. They don’t care about Democrat or Republican — they want solutions. I don’t think they care about pointing the finger at someone. There are a lot of easy fixes to closing campaign loop holes and getting rid of outside income and giving our local district attorneys more power so they can go after more white collar cases. When I was in the D.A. office, we were 10 people in the public corruption unit overseeing 8 million people. You can’t even think you’re getting everything that’s out there. Our local D.A.’s don’t have that power, but I would love to see them have more power. People in power have no interest in giving prosecutors more ability to look at them.

Have you developed any sense of cynicism?

No. We were able to accomplish some things this session, and there’s a lot more that we can do. But, I’m in government as opposed to some other field because I believe that good leadership can make a difference, you just have to work at it. It’s not going to happen overnight.

What motivated you to leave your career as a prosecutor to run for the Assembly?

So I was working on relief for Sandy victims in my hometown of Long Beach, and I talked to Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg and he discussed his desire to consider retirement. I had to think about where I could help the most people — where could I have the biggest effect? Was it prosecuting the next politician or actually trying to change the system? A lot of the stuff I did in the district attorney’s office was nameless and faceless. When I was an assistant district attorney you actually met victims, you had a personal connection. When you start getting to more white collar things like insider trading, that hurts a lot of people but it’s not like anyone comes to you or talks to you. After Sandy, I was helping real people, watching them cry talking about their house being gone and insurance or the government not helping them, and I thought not only can I make a difference in changing the system but I can also help real people with real problems beyond just the criminal justice system.

Are your new colleagues wary of you as someone who comes from law enforcement?

Maybe. They definitely ask me for advice all the time. They want to know — they’re curious about how the FBI works — but I don’t think anyone’s going to be telling me about any bad things they’re doing. In Albany there is a complex that many politicians have that they’re in a fishbowl and everyone’s looking at them and it’s so unfair. I just tell people that if they’re not doing anything wrong, they don’t have anything to worry about.

Do you find that people have trouble knowing if they’re crossing a line?

No. The federal things that people come after you for — I’m not talking about a bad press story, I’m talking about serious prosecutions — are for repeated, in-depth criminal conspiracies. It’s sustained stuff. I’ve never met anyone who accidently erred.

I absolutely believe that a kindergarten level understanding of good and bad is all you need to be a legally operating elected official in Albany. Could there be some smoke but no fire because someone thinks something is happening that isn’t? It happens all the time. It turns out nothings there, you move on. Actual arrests, prosecutions in criminal courts — people know exactly what they’re doing. A lot of that comes from being in office too long. People think no one will know and they have a higher purpose, and they lose their sense of grounding and they know what they are doing.

Do you support term limits?

Yes. I think it’s a conversation that needs to be had. It’s not on anyone’s agenda, but absolutely. I also don’t think it’s enough. There are junior politicians that have committed crimes. The question is, while people are serving their term, how are we going to keep them from stealing?

You say that you’re against the LLC loophole, but you conducted a successful campaign at a time when it exists. Why would voters not be suspicious of you benefiting from what you criticize?

I’ve insured that I do not take money from somebody beyond their maximum contribution level. So if someone has given me the maximum amount, I don’t let them, through some other company, give me more. Look, you cannot, generally speaking, unilaterally disarm. We’re in a campaign where tons of money is poured into it; you have to play by the rules that are there. I want to change those rules, but while the campaign rules are what they are, people are going to operate accordingly. Neither of the opponents I’ve had in my elections so far have said, “I won’t take this money if you don’t take that money.” You’re out there on your own, so I’d like to change the system so that nobody has this problem.

You’ve been noted in media reports for your sense of humor in court. Is that something you’ve brought to Albany?

Not as much as I should. I should lighten up a little more. Look, the senate is a very serious place. It’s very partisan, which is unfortunate. We don’t even eat lunch together. In the last few nights of the session, when we were there late, each side individually ate the same dinner in two different rooms. That’s how bad it’s gotten. I really lament that. We need to hang out more; we need to have more fun. We need to generally be bipartisan, and I’m totally willing to do that.