Friday, March 2, 2018

No Matter the Verdict, Corruption Trial Taints Cuomo


A New York Times Editorial

No matter the outcome of the federal trial of Joseph Percoco, Gov. Andrew Cuomo may need a raw steak to go with the ziti that was an ingredient in the courtroom drama. The steak would be for the black eye he has suffered in this corruption case, now in the jury’s hands.

Nothing in this tawdry affair works to his benefit. If Mr. Percoco, the governor’s former aide and family friend, is convicted of charges that he took gobs of bribe money — ziti, in his “Sopranos”-inflected argot — it will reflect poorly on Mr. Cuomo. But even if the verdict is not guilty, the ethical pall over Albany and its chief executive will not be dispelled. Bribery described as pasta has a way of sticking in people’s heads. “This is not how honest and honorable public servants talk,” a federal prosecutor, David Zhou, correctly noted to the jurors on Tuesday.

Even without government allegations of wrongdoing by Mr. Cuomo, he doesn’t quite hit all the right ethical notes. In this regard, he is not alone.

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