Poor New York state, it just can’t seem to get a decent governor. First, it had Eliot Spitzer and his troubles with extramarital affairs. Once Spitzer left, his Lieutenant Governor, David Paterson, was sworn in as governor on March 17, 2008. Even though he planned on running for another full term, Paterson will not run for reelection this year, as now he is in the midst of scandal.
Last month, Paterson was accused of tampering with a witness in a domestic abuse case in which his aide David Johnson was accused. The woman dropped the case after the NY State Police and Paterson’s staffers pressured the woman to do so. Paterson allegedly spoke to the woman himself a day before she dropped the case. For the time being, Johnson has been suspended without pay.
Then, on March 3, the New York Commission on Public Integrity accused Paterson of lying under oath in the organization’s investigation of his administration’s solicitation of five World Series tickets behind home plate that had a face value of $425 each. Paterson allegedly received the tickets and never paid for them, which he states was because he was on official state business due to the Yankee’s appearance in the series. Now, “federal investigators have subpoenaed records from the administration relating to the recent awarding of a lucrative contract for video gambling terminals to a politically connected bidder,” according to the New York Times. In this whole process, Paterson has not been charged with any crimes.
During this whole process, Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Denise E. O’Donnell,, State Police superintendent Harry J. Corbitt, and Communications Director Peter Kauffmann, three of Peterson’s top staffers, have resigned. Corbitt resigned because his family and his values pressured him to leave. O’Donnell and Kauffmann both resigned because they did not want to be associated with Paterson’s actions.
I give Paterson credit for admitting an extramarital affair when he was first sworn in to office. He understood that his affair could be used against him, so he publicly acknowledged it so he would be protected politically later. However, I don’t think Paterson expected to handle the political scandal that is coming, with what the New York Newspapers are calling “Troopergate,” due to the use of New York State troopers to convince the woman accusing Johnson to drop the case.
Paterson faces a very low popularity rating. In April 2009, a Quinnipiac University poll of 1,528 New York State registered voters found that 60 percent disapproved of the job Paterson was doing, with 53 percent saying he should withdraw his gubernatorial candidacy. The 60 percent disapproval rating is the worst-ever rating for a New York governor. Combine his actions with this disapproval polls and Paterson is not in good political shape, especially with calls for his resignation and for his actions to be prosecuted.
Ethics, the truth, and politics seem to have an odd relationship. During election season, many politicians attempt to prove how their moral character is most trustworthy. So much emphasis is placed on ethics that one would think that at least one politician would live up to this great image he or she created during his or her campaign. Several other New York politicians have come under fire for their unethical behavior this week, including U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, who accepted Caribbean vacations sponsored by corporations and U.S. Rep. Eric Massa, who resigned after facing allegations of sexual harassment.
New York state expected the scandal to stop when Spitzer resigned. Little did it know that three other elected officials would shame the state they represent with their unethical behavior. As “representatives,” politicians should recognize that their actions speak not only for themselves, but for their state as well. Although the oath of office for these officials does not include any clause on representing the state in their actions, that duty is implied in the title of “representative.” New York has been through much in this past week concerning politicians who seem to forget that their actions have consequences. For example, if Paterson had not called that woman in his aide’s domestic abuse case, nor had his administration solicited World Series tickets, he would not be in his current situation. While he is attempting to get out of this scandal above water, he is also working to close a potential New York state budget deficit of roughly $9 billion in the fiscal year that starts April 1. Politicians in all jurisdictions should remember their duty and obligation to the people who elected them in the first place. Their actions could potentially affect their jurisdiction in a negative manner that can leave future generations of the jurisdiction at a loss.
For those of us at Salem State who wish to dive into the realm of public service, I ask you to consider your actions and how those actions have consequences that are good neither for you, nor the people who elected you. Even for those of us who do not wish to go into politics, we can still learn a lesson from New York’s political climate. We need to make sure we live up to the expectations of any role we assume, whether it be of a teacher grading students fairly, a scientist who accepts his results even if they are not what he or she expected, or even a student who studies hard and doesn’t cheat or plagiarize. Acting ethically may be difficult, but it is much easier to do the right thing first than to do something unethical and attempt to pick up the pieces later.
Be the first to comment on this article!