Below is printed an unedited exchange from this morning's Facebook thread of Casey Seiler, with his permission. Seiler is managing editor, and former state editor, of the Albany Times Union, for which he also writes a weekly column in the Sunday opinion section. (He is also co-host of the WMHT TV show New York NOW.) The thread is about this week's column, in which Seiler was highly critical of those voters in Western New York who last November re-elected Republican Congressman Chris Collins, who was at that time facing charges of insider trading. Collins pleaded guilty last week and resigned from Congress.
- Bob Conner The TU does not endorse on this kind of issue. Nor do voters vote on it. Rather, people and newspapers support politicians who agree with them about policy issues. The TU, for example, for many years endorsed every state Assembly member who voted Sheldon Silver in as speaker every 2 years, despite Silver's corruption being an open secret in Albany, well known to everyone paying attention, including you and presumably the editorial board. Their endorsements were made for the same reason Western New York voters backed Collins, agreement on policy issues such as abortion (crucially important to the TU editorial board, as demonstrated in last November's brouhaha re Jim Tedisco).
- Casey Seiler Bob Conner There's a significant difference between Silver's conduct prior to his arrest — behavior that the TU and others reported on extensively and that the edit board called out regularly — and the question of his support by Democrats after he was hauled into court. When that happened, the Capitol bureau put all of our regional Dems on the record on whether they were willing to support him as Speaker, and when they didn't immediately bounce him the editorial board called them out for it. My point isn't that people shouldn't make political calculations about how aligned they are with a given candidate, even one with significant tarnish on them; my point is that when an elected official has been credibly charged with multiple corruption felonies — Silver or Collins — voters should think about throwing over partisan concerns and kicking him to the curb.
- Bob Conner Up to a point, minister (as the senior civil servant used to tell his political boss in the classic Brit sitcom Yes Minister). To update my point, the TU has done much excellent reporting and commentary (including by yourself) about corruption in the current state administration, while endorsing Andrew Cuomo in every race. The editorial board is making exactly the same calculation as the Collins voters in Western New York, ie corruption issues are of no significance compared to social issues and other partisan considerations.
- Casey Seiler This is the argument that says, "Ehh, they're all corrupt so who cares?" My point, in case it isn't clear by now, is that there is a bright line, a categorical difference, between a pol who has done odious things but hasn't been credibly charged with multiple corruption felonies and one who has. That's why Paul Ryan relieved Collins of his committee post after he had been arrested as opposed to when he was merely the subject of a fairly well-detailed ethics complaint by Rep. Louise Slaughter — who Collins subsequently called a "despicable human" for diming him out.
- Casey Seiler Bob Conner Also: You bet the TU edit board endorses based on this kind of issue — go ask former Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove.
- Bob Conner I don't accept your characterization of my position, because I do not think I'm being cynical. Or at least not as cynical as an editorial board which, when making endorsements, ignores corruption issues reported in its own paper, leaving itself room to be "shocked, shocked" (like Capt. Reynaud in Casablanca) if and when its political ally is indicted. BTW, did the TU endorse Abelove when he first ran? If not, I think your example does nothing to back up your point.
Do you object to me reprinting unedited our exchanges here, linking to your Sunday column, on my PlanetAlbany blog? - Casey Seiler Bob Conner No objections — as I've always told my son: Don't say something on social media that you wouldn't put on a billboard in the front yard.
- Bob Conner Thank you.
Notes: State Senator Jim Tedisco (a Republican) gets mentioned in my first post on the thread in reference to a controversy, covered in-depth on this blog (and nowhere else), when the TU retracted its endorsement of him.
Sheldon Silver, a Democrat who was longtime speaker of the state Assembly, is currently free on appeal after being convicted on corruption charges.
Joel Abelove, a Republican, served one term as district attorney, being defeated last year by a TU-endorsed Democrat. He himself faced criminal charges in connection with his handling of a police shooting in Troy. A judge dismissed the charges against Abelove, in a decision which is being appealed by the state attorney general (a Democrat).
I do not mean to imply in the above exchange that I expect Cuomo (a Democrat) to be indicted. I do not expect it. He is a smart lawyer and the most effective player by Albany rules, which give him ample scope to dominate ethics policy and every other aspect of state politics.
I also probably should not have called the TU editorial board cynical. In fact, I think their downplaying the importance of corruption in relation to other issues is entirely defensible. What I object to is pretending that the editorial board is acting differently from the Collins voters (among whom I would likely have been numbered had I lived in the district). They are on different political sides, with opposite views on social issues, but, contra Seiler, they agree about not attaching much significance to corruption when making political decisions. So do the overwhelming majority of politicians and voters, from DC, the EU and UN down to the local level. A big problem with this, obviously, is that we are not going to reduce corruption if we don't care about it. But we are going to do even less good if we try to live in a fantasy world, determined to convince ourselves that our party or newspaper is battling like an unsullied comic book hero against the other side's corruption.
