Editorial

Denenberg’s sentence is a poor civics lesson

Posted

Dave Denenberg must be thanking his lucky stars.

The former legislator — who pleaded guilty to cheating a law client out of $2.3 million, of which Denenberg kept hundreds of thousands of dollars — was sentenced to three months in jail, three months of house arrest and three years of supervised release.

U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert went so easy on Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, because of his excellent record of public service, she said. Hundreds of his friends and constituents wrote letters and appeared in court, urging leniency. His misdeeds, otherwise known as eight federal counts of mail fraud, did not involve the selling of his public office for favors, Seybert said, so she agreed with his admirers and gave him a light sentence.

We think it was too light.

Aside from the elected officials who have been convicted of corruption involving unethical, pay-to-play criminal misuse of their offices, many New York state politicians have gone to jail for more personal illegal activities. Assemblywoman Gabriela Rosa was sentenced last year to 12 months in jail and forced to give up her elected position for entering into a sham marriage to an American citizen in order to regularize her immigration status here. State Sen. Shirley Huntley was sentenced to a year and a day and three years probation for mail fraud in 2013. Sen. Nick Spano got 12 months and a day and a year’s supervised release for tax evasion. Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. got five years in prison, three years’ supervised release, a hundred hours community service plus heavy fines and restitution for embezzling money from health clinics. Sen. Effrain Gonzalez Jr. was sentenced in 2010 to seven years in federal prison for fraud and embezzling $400,000 from a neighborhood association.

As was the case with these legislators, the felonies to which Denenberg pleaded guilty did not involve corrupt practices related to his public office. But he committed those crimes while he was an officer of the court, an attorney who swore an oath to uphold the law, and a public servant. He trashed the trust people have a right to have in elected officials.

It’s no good for the civic health of the county or the state for a politician — or a federal judge — to reason that as long as you do a lot of good, you can do some bad without facing too big a penalty, as long as you express regret for what you’ve done after you’re caught.

Is it any wonder that corrupt politicians in New York think they can get away with criminal behavior? What’s the standard for ethical service in public office? Don’t get caught? Plead for mercy if you do? Make sure you show up at all the local projects and assemblies, immerse yourself in your community and work hard doing constituent services in your district, so when the judge determines your sentence, the scales may tilt a bit more toward mercy?

The judge in the Denenberg case has sent the wrong message to politicians, to members of the legal profession, to the public and to young people learning civics in school. Her sentence was long on mercy, but too short on punishment.