Turns Out I Was Right About New York Politicians
Nathan Greene
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By Emily Geiger
Remember when I said it seemed like there was just something wrong with New York politicians? How it seemed that it was just one big orgy over there in Albany? Well, turns out I was right.
I mentioned Rudy, Eliot, Hill and Bill, and the new Gov. Patterson, but it turns out there is so much more to the story. It seems the statehouse in NY often resembles a frat house. They’ve had numerous sex scandals.
First, the legislators’ methods for choosing interns, up until a few years ago was, well, completely sick and wrong. According to the AP:
Up until just a few years ago, lawmakers would go "window shopping" for interns at the start of every legislative session. In a practice that went on for decades, the interns would be corraled in a Capitol newsstand so that legislators could pick their office help based on their looks, not their resumes.
The hanky-panky even has its own lexicon: There's the " Bear Mountain Compact," which says that what goes on north of the state park just outside New York City stays there. Lobbyists, staffers and reporters who seek to enhance their influence by bedding powerful lawmakers are known as "big game hunters." And the men who sleep with the women lawmakers are "boy toys."
The AP cites even more examples:
In Colorado, state Rep. Michael Garcia resigned this year after a female lobbyist accused him of sexual misconduct at a bar. He said he engaged in "consensual" but "inappropriate" conduct.
Other Albany cases include Michael Boxley, the chief lawyer for the speaker of the Assembly, who was led out of the Capitol in handcuffs in 2003 and later pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct after a legislative aide accused him of rape. In 2004, a 19-year-old intern said state Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, a member of a legendary Harlem political family, gave her alcohol and took her to his motel room for sex. Powell, 42 at the time, said the sex was consensual; no charges were filed.
And in 1992, New York Chief Judge Sol Wachtler, a potential Republican candidate for governor, was charged with harassing a socialite and GOP fundraiser after she ended their affair. He admitted posing as a private detective to stalk the woman and mailing her menacing letters, including a threat to kidnap her teenage daughter. Wachtler served 13 months in prison.
Stories of mistresses followed Govs. Thomas Dewey, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Grover Cleveland .
In 1961, a photo appeared in the press of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller helping his wife down the roof of the governor's mansion as firefighters battled a fire. Mary Rockefeller was in robe and nightgown while the governor was smiling, dapper in a suit and rakish scarf. He had reportedly been out for a night on the town before he rushed back for a photo.
Some cases quietly lead to resignations and job transfers before they ever reach the Legislative Ethics Committee , which is criticized by good-government groups as too passive.
Even good ol’ Iowa isn’t immune to these shenanigans. I’ve heard stories that inappropriate contact between legislators and HIGH SCHOOL aged pages was quite common years ago. And for a more recent example of inappropriate relationships between legislators and staffers, one doesn’t even have to leave the Iowa blogosphere….
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