Years ago, Bill Stern, writing in the pages of City Journal, noted that in Albany, the “nomenklatura” are in charge. By that he meant that a bipartisan cabal of lobbyists, legislators, lawyers, and patronage hacks use the system to line their pockets.
While a case such as the Anthony Seminerio fraud incident receives headlines, “pay to play” has been part of the Albany scene for decades, and much of it falls into the category of legal or quasi-legal transactions.
Influence peddling through state-sponsored projects can lead to multimillion-dollar contracts. Managing a portion of the state pension fund can result in enormous commissions. Legal representations by firms in which legislators are “of counsel” determine who receives vast sums of government largesse.
In my experience, Albany is a political cesspool comparable in many respects to Chicago. However, it is generally not covered by the journalistic community. It is not coincidental that so many retired politicians now wear lobbyist name tags. The pay is very good and the work is very little. Unfortunately, the taxpayer is the one who gets the short end of the stick.
– Herbert London is president of the Hudson Institute.