If you want to make a case for liberal bias in the media, the absence of any New York Times editorial on the case of William Rapfogel, or the fact that the Albany Times Union reported his arrest in an AP story which was cut off before it mentioned Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, would be grist for your mill.
The Times did do some good reporting earlier on the scandal, on how Silver's lifelong friend, the husband of his longtime chief of staff, has apparently been looting millions of dollars from a Jewish charity, stashing some of the cash in his apartment. And that looting was facilitated and funded by the state government, with the Assembly leading the way, and, as Newsday reports, Judy Rapfogel participating.
The New York Daily News did pen a tough editorial, and the Post wrote one pointing out that one of Rapfogel's avenues of corruption involved milking public campaign funds, potentially discrediting the main anti-corruption plank touted by liberal reformers such as Silver, the Times and TU editorial boards, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
But it's only because liberal Democrats hold almost all the power in New York state that they are now the focus of these cases. As the case of Joe Bruno demonstrates, sort-of conservative Republicans are just as liable to be corrupt. The fish rots from the head down, yet all those rank-and-file legislators, whether or not they are personally crooked, are also responsible, not just for supporting leaders like Silver and Bruno but -- for example -- for going along with the current legal position of the Assembly and Senate to resist efforts by the Moreland Commission to disclose information about legislators' incomes.
It remains to be seen whether the political establishment, including the editorial boards, are prepared to take on Silver. Presumably, they will if and when there is enough blood in the water. But none of these people has clean hands. Nor have the less biased journalists, reliant on their corrupt sources and in some cases waiting an opportunity to join them, covered themselves in glory. Albany scandals are uncovered (sometimes) by prosecutors, rarely by investigative reporters.
