New York's Lt. Governor Arrested

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ny-lieutenant-governor-brian-benjamin-arrested-bribery-charges / NYT

NY lieutenant governor arrested on bribery charges.

New York Lieutenant Gov. Brian Benjamin was indicted for alleged bribery and other offenses, as part of what federal prosecutors say was a "scheme" to get campaign contributions in exchange for a $50,000 state grant.

The indictment also alleges that Benjamin and others worked to "cover up" the plot, engaging "in a series of lies and deception."

...

Benjamin is facing charges of bribery, conspiracy, honest services wire fraud, and falsification of records. The various offenses carry maximum penalties ranging between five and 20 years in prison.

No mention of any wrongdoing as Lt. Governor, unless I missed that piece, as this occurred allegedly when he was a state senator. There is an election this year for NY... which now has seen a Governor resign and now a Lt. Governor arrested. What is going on in New York?

new york... being new york

Burn him if guilty. I have limited respect for politicians to begin with. So if they cross the line by putting themselves ahead of the system and the public interest then they should burn.

My fantasy gov't would be elected officials swearing an oath that has a death penalty clause for corruption. Proper legal and due process of course.

That might help separate who is in it for public interest/service from the trolls and thieves.

And yes you dip shit politicians....you might lose. Suck it up. This isn't supposed to be divine right of kings and you aren't entitled. You earn it.

/rant

Good riddance.

And get money out of politics.

Good, hold him accountable. We should be routinely scrutinizing every single financial transaction that these guys get. Put them all under a microscope. Don't like it? Don't run for office, simple as that. It should come with the territory.

Lock him up, for a loooooooong time.

I would argee with you, but I would argue life in prison is a harsher fate. Albeit more expensive.

I really wish we would get the money out of politics. It's the source of all the problems.

Of course, there was also a mass shooting and it doesn't help that the current governor is an NRA stooge and the mayor also sucks.

@nintendoboy16: NRA has nothing to do with what happened in New York this morning. NYC has some of the most restrictions on guns in the country. You basically can't have one.

Yet we had a president who tried bribing an entire country and he's still walking free. Strange world.

Good. It's nice when politicians actually get caught doing this. Also nice to know there are some campaign finance shenanigans that are still illegal, for now.

More like politicians being politicians.

lock him up!

Good, that kind of behavior is unacceptable.

it can be both. just think if they had fl man skills

This is great! Always nice to see the system work, to see corrupt politicians get taken down.

Let's take this "can-do" attitude to the federal level! Clean house!

For real. Plenty of people want to do good without being greedy, get them into politics.

Yup, happens everywhere.

Not sure about death penalty, but I agree with your overall sentiment.

Public service, at least at the state and especially at the federal level, should be such a burden and have such strict standards and should not be so profitable that only the truly dedicated would serve.

A lot of these do-nothing liberals and the far-right conmen wouldn't stand a chance. I think democracy, at least in the 21st century, is not really cutting it, or at least the democracy we have made for ourselves. Still a big fan of the democratic process but voting isn't enough these days; we need to make sure the people we vote for are actually in it for the right reason.

Was it Republic Rome or Greece that stripped their senators of all their possessions (theoretically, anyhow)?

Not sure, but I kind of like that idea. If you serve, you get put into publicly funded housing of sorts, furnished and everything. You have a fixed budget for groceries. If federal, you're expected to work 30 hours a week in DC, then you get 20 hours in whatever district you serve where you have to do community service of some kind.

It won't be poor living; you'd be taken care of, you won't starve, and you'll be given a decent salary well above the poverty gap...but that's all you're getting. I'm not saying they need to live in rags and starve (the opposite, actually), just saying they shouldn't be millionaires by the time they're done.

There will be NO campaign fundraising. Instead everyone get's an allotted amount of finance each quarter/year/etc. Everyone get's a website which is fact-checked by a bipartisan, non-profit agency. During election season or whatever, we shorten the cycle to 60 days so we don't get bombarded for months on end with bullshit. Everyone get's a five-minute commercial every Friday on basic television channels (local affiliates only) in their district or whatever.

Everyone get's a staff, again this will be paid for. Everyone get's the same basic cabinet structure so you can't have more or less than anyone else.

Everything is funded by the taxpayers, and it is not excessive. It'd be cheap, the accountability would be there since it is all public money and zero private funds.

Idunno just spitballing here. I don't think they need to take an oath of poverty or whatever monks sometimes do, but I think we need to get serious about this. Like, really serious.

Oh yeah, and TERM LIMITS! If you have to extend the terms by a couple years so be it, but no more Mitch McConnells and Pelosis in office for decades.

Again, just brainstorming here lol. Not saying this would work, but it's the kind of change I personally would like to see in our political system. Liek I said, big fan of democracy, just not sure we are going about it the right way these days.

F*** em. One less corrupt politician in the country.

Well, you can if you are a politician or a celebrity. You know, those the government of NYC have determined are better than the rest of us.

As for the topic of the thread itself, this wasn't one of the few politicians to commit such crimes, he's just one of the few to actually be punished for it. Most have better ways of disguising the bribes. Slush funds, campaign "donations," Ridiculously high speaking fees that number in the millions of dollars raised for a tiny speech, fund raisers, putting family members in positions on companies or heading agencies so they'll profit on behalf of the family. Show me a politician who doesn't benefit from this, I doubt you'll find one who has been in office for more than an election cycle.

And this isn't even counting insider trading, where politicians invest in companies in industries and then influence those industries in their favor or are privy to information others in the market are not. Politicians awarding grants to companies they hold stock in, or in some cases even own.

It's like I've been saying all along. Republican, Democrat, they all have way much more in common with each other than they are ever going to have in common with me or you, and their actions in office are always going to reflect that, no matter how they try to mask it.

I find it odd that bribery and sexual harassment will get you in trouble in NY state but putting a bunch of covid patients in nursing homes, where our most vulnerable live, doesn't seem to bother a whole lot of people. Over 15,000 of those deaths happened because of this decision.

You might say that it was an accident but, if I were to accidentally drive over and kill 15,000 elderly people on my way home, I'm probably going to get into a bit of a legal pickle.

Almost all politicians do this. Members of congress spend most of their time fundraising like telemarketers. Money needs to get out of politics for sure.