Earlier this month a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted William Boyland Jr. of soliciting a quarter of a million dollars in bribes from undercover FBI agents. In the trial he comes up with a defense — he was just gaming the system by seeking bribes without any intention of providing favors. Right!
He went to the slammer and was expelled from the Assembly as required by law. What is not required by law is forfeiture of the New York state-funded pension rights earned while he served 11 years in the Assembly representing his constituents.
Many of the big police departments have a policy that a police officer loses his pension if he is convicted of a felony and there are other organizations that have the same policy. Why are politicians who are fed by public tax dollars any better than anyone else? A Federal Judge ordered him held for sentencing on June 30 when he faces a prison term of up to 30 years.
There have been seven or eight New York City politicians convicted of political corruption charges in the last couple years and many more throughout the nation. Federal authorities are always looking to catch crooked politicians who like to fill their personal pocketbooks by soliciting bribes or misappropriating state funds. All the while, the Legislature continues to ignore complaint after complaint about corruption. The leaders of each house, the minority and majority, simply refuse to initiate reforms or to act on proposals from the governor to clean up their act.
Recently the entire freshman class in the state Assembly renewed legislation that would strip pension benefits from officials convicted of felony corruption. (Freshmen… we need more of them huh?) Republican and Democratic members of the Assembly offered the same bill last year, but the Assembly majority held it hostage.
That is hardly a surprise. Similar legislation in the Senate suffered the same fate last year. Instead of reform, what has happened? Three years ago, the Legislature passed a law forfeiting pension benefits, but from officials who weren’t in the retirement system. In other words, they passed a law that means nothing because all senators and Assembly members participate in the system.
We need a new class of elected officials, honest, non-thieves who will work for US… not steal from us. This is an ongoing thing in the world of politics. Next election, let’s look closely at everyone who runs for office and go for character and honesty and forget what party they are in.