4 ms·

> Why would that be different from everywhere else though? Corruption in New York is a whole different animal than any other state. New York has, hands down,

> Why would that be different from everywhere else though? Corruption in New York is a whole different animal than any other state. New York has, hands down, the most corrupt state government in the country.[0] As just one example, the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, openly orchestrated an illegal[1] coup to ensure that Republicans maintained control of the state senate, despite losing control in the then-recent elections. He did this because it ensured that he had unilateral power to decide which laws were even brought to a vote in the state legislature, so he could essentially pre-veto any legislation behind closed doors, instead of having to veto a potentially popular piece of legislation openly after the legislature passed it. Or, on the topic of public transit, Cuomo stole $5 million from the MTA (public transit for NYC metro area) and gave it to upstate ski resorts that he has a personal interest in[2]. [0] https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/how-new-york-became-most-corrupt-state-in-america-117652 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/how-new-york... [1] A judge later ruled that the caucus was illegally formed and ordered them to return the money, though I don't know if they ever actually did. [2] https://gothamist.com/2017/07/10/mta_tips_down_k_val.php https://gothamist.com/2017/07/10/mta_tips_down_k_val.php

User23 7y ago
Can confirm. New York crookedness is so advanced I can’t help having a grudging admiration. It’s been like that longer than any of us have been alive too.
ameister14 7y ago
I think Illinois gives NY a run for their money. Remember Blagojevich trying to sell the senate seat?
- chimeracoder 7y ago
  > I think Illinois gives NY a run for their money. Remember Blagojevich trying to sell the senate seat? Blagojevich is an amateur. He got caught. The ones who are the best at corruption are the ones who can keep it up for years - decades - successfully.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  Money is really good at masking systemic problems (like government run by idiots, corruption, etc) because you can just throw money at wherever the problem rears it's head. I don't know if Chicago is more corrupt or they're just less able/willing to put up an expensive front of propriety. Everyone loves to cite the number of politicians that get prosecuted or go to jail for corruption. To me that says the corruption doesn't run very deep.
  - ameister14 7y ago
    >Everyone loves to cite the number of politicians that get prosecuted or go to jail for corruption. To me that says the corruption doesn't run very deep. Meh, it could also simply be deep local corruption and shallow Federal corruption. If the FBI is coming, that doesn't mean that your State government isn't corrupt, just that it doesn't have enough power to influence federal.
  - asdff 7y ago
    Local government in Chicago is designed to make corruption as efficient as possible. The alderman are like mini dictators.
smogcutter 7y ago
Re "ski resorts", sure, the money shouldn't have come from the MTA, and it's another example of Albany bleeding the city. But Whiteface is (1) state owned, and (2) absolutely critical to the economy in the north country. Cuomo's a shit, but when you say ski resorts like that it's going to mislead people who don't know the region. We're not talking about Snowbird here.
- chimeracoder 7y ago
  > But Whiteface is (1) state owned, and (2) absolutely critical to the economy in the north country. Cuomo's a shit, but when you say ski resorts like that it's going to mislead people who don't know the region. We're not talking about Snowbird here. It is not at all misleading to say that Cuomo made a unilateral decision to siphon funds that had already been earmarked for public transit towards a non-transit project that he had personal interests in.
  - smogcutter 7y ago
    I don't see "personal interests" in the linked article, unless you just mean keeping ORDA afloat, which is 100% in the state's interest. Calling it out the way you did is disingenuous because you're hiding the context that ORDA is also a state agency. It's robbing Peter to pay Paul, it's dumb and inefficient, but it's not exactly the crime of the century.

User23 7y ago

Can confirm. New York crookedness is so advanced I can’t help having a grudging admiration. It’s been like that longer than any of us have been alive too.

ameister14 7y ago

I think Illinois gives NY a run for their money. Remember Blagojevich trying to sell the senate seat?

chimeracoder 7y ago
> I think Illinois gives NY a run for their money. Remember Blagojevich trying to sell the senate seat? Blagojevich is an amateur. He got caught. The ones who are the best at corruption are the ones who can keep it up for years - decades - successfully.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Money is really good at masking systemic problems (like government run by idiots, corruption, etc) because you can just throw money at wherever the problem rears it's head. I don't know if Chicago is more corrupt or they're just less able/willing to put up an expensive front of propriety. Everyone loves to cite the number of politicians that get prosecuted or go to jail for corruption. To me that says the corruption doesn't run very deep.
- ameister14 7y ago
  >Everyone loves to cite the number of politicians that get prosecuted or go to jail for corruption. To me that says the corruption doesn't run very deep. Meh, it could also simply be deep local corruption and shallow Federal corruption. If the FBI is coming, that doesn't mean that your State government isn't corrupt, just that it doesn't have enough power to influence federal.
- asdff 7y ago
  Local government in Chicago is designed to make corruption as efficient as possible. The alderman are like mini dictators.

smogcutter 7y ago

Re "ski resorts", sure, the money shouldn't have come from the MTA, and it's another example of Albany bleeding the city. But Whiteface is (1) state owned, and (2) absolutely critical to the economy in the north country. Cuomo's a shit, but when you say ski resorts like that it's going to mislead people who don't know the region. We're not talking about Snowbird here.

chimeracoder 7y ago
> But Whiteface is (1) state owned, and (2) absolutely critical to the economy in the north country. Cuomo's a shit, but when you say ski resorts like that it's going to mislead people who don't know the region. We're not talking about Snowbird here. It is not at all misleading to say that Cuomo made a unilateral decision to siphon funds that had already been earmarked for public transit towards a non-transit project that he had personal interests in.
- smogcutter 7y ago
  I don't see "personal interests" in the linked article, unless you just mean keeping ORDA afloat, which is 100% in the state's interest. Calling it out the way you did is disingenuous because you're hiding the context that ORDA is also a state agency. It's robbing Peter to pay Paul, it's dumb and inefficient, but it's not exactly the crime of the century.