Confirming the public’s perception of a state government which has lost its way, New York State got a D- grade in a comprehensive report on corruption risk by The State Integrity Investigation, a project of the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity, which are national and international groups which advocate for clean and transparent government. New York’s D- is a cumulative grade based on an assessment of hundreds of measures and interviews with dozens of academics, former government officials, journalists and advocates, including Reinvent Albany.
“We’re talking about a gold medal-winning corruption performance by New York,” said John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, an advocacy group. “It’s a pretty bleak moment for public governance.”
As suggested by our quote, we believe New York should have gotten an “F” for corruption risk, but some high risk categories, including subsidies directed to businesses which are major donors to political campaigns, were not graded.
