See No Evil, Hear No Evil

Here’s Bill de Blasio on the Moreland Commission imbroglio in which Gov. Andrew Cuomo now finds himself steeped: “I’m not following it because I have a lot of other things to do. I try to keep up a bit with the world, but when I look at the media, I am focused on the things that affect New York directly.”

What a crock!

De Blasio, widely regarded as a masterful political operator, is not following the biggest political story of the year? A story that could have enormous ramifications for the power structure in this state and his standing within it?

Yeah, sure. It is a credit to the press corps that nobody burst out laughing when de Blasio served up this doozy.

The Moreland scandal doesn’t “affect New York directly?” How do you figure, Mayor? Because it’s an Albany issue? This from the guy who went to the state Legislature his very first month in office to beg it to grant him the ability to raise taxes on the rich—and was rebuffed? Who will time and again depend upon the Capitol to enable him to enact his progressive agenda? Why would he be concerned with a fiasco in which both houses of the Legislature and the executive chamber are entangled?

Of course, to be fair to the mayor, he is only doing the same duck-and-cover routine that practically every other Democratic elected official in this state is performing right now. The difference is he does not have the luxury of dodging questions the way they can. Where have all our intrepid good-government advocates gone? Are all of the senators and Assembly members from Manhattan on vacation, and didn’t bother issuing a press release to let us know?

New York State has no shortage of politicians who are eager to mount their white horse to champion accountability and transparency when there is no chance they will succeed. Now, at the moment most auspicious to lead the charge for reform, everyone is suddenly on the sidelines taking a breather?

Pathetic.

Our politicians, so prone to pontificate on subjects about which they know nothing or have no influence, suddenly fall mute whenever it comes to speaking out against the wrongdoings of members of their own party. The notorious “blue wall of silence” among police officers is positively porous compared with how unfailingly elected officials turn the other cheek when it comes to the sins of their colleagues.

The only time politicians flip on each other is to save their own skin, or when public opinion has so shifted against the perp that it’s indefensible to keep standing up for them—as in the case of Vito Lopez. (Then, as we all know, comes the pile-on, when our lionhearted leaders congratulate themselves for the courage they finally found tucked away in a drawer someplace.)

Even when politician are indicted for public corruption, for abusing the very system they were elected to uphold, for bringing shame upon their colleagues by tarnishing the institutions in which they serve, our electeds say nothing.

Three months after Ruben Wills was arrested for what Attorney General Eric Schneiderman described as “a shameful breach of the trust his constituents placed in him,” have any of his 47 fellow Democrats in the New York City Council called on him to resign? Why is it that the safest harbor for indicted politicians in this state is inside the halls of government?

Not that Democrats are alone in laying on thick this appalling whitewash. Take Rudy Giuliani, who POLITICO’s Maggie Haberman quotes as saying, “The Cuomo situation, I can’t figure it out … I’m getting nervous that prosecutors are jumping [at a political case].”

Wha—?! Let’s ignore for a second that Giuliani had to preface his remarks by disclosing that his law firm is representing individuals who might be questioned by investigators in connection with Moreland. This is Rudy Giuliani! The crusading U.S. Attorney who made his entire career taking on political corruption! If anyone should be cheering on Preet Bharara, it’s Rudy!

How low Giuliani has sunk since the days when he heroically brought powerful politicians like Meade Esposito and Mario Biaggi to justice. Has he forgotten his own words? “I don’t think there is anybody worse than a public official who sells his office and corrupts others—except maybe a murderer.”

I guess the only remaining test for our elected officials’ tolerance of one another’s crimes is for one of them to actually commit murder. Then we’ll find out if that’s somehow an excusable offense, too.