Unsung Heroes

“The opportunity of a lifetime for a prosecutor to be able to potentially clean up one of the most corrupt state governments in the nation.” That’s how the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption’s co-chair William Fitzpatrick describes his feelings to City & State upon first being offered the job by Gov. Cuomo last year. 

I must admit that I have found it heartening— and more than a little surprising—how many people approached their work on the Commission with the same idealism expressed by Fitzpatrick, who can hardly be dismissed as a political naïf after 22 years as the elected district attorney of Onondaga County. Except for a few bad actors with ulterior motives, the commissioners and staffers who signed up for Moreland did so in the true spirit of public service— in the greatest sense of this often hollow phrase. 

These people truly believed in the Commission. And why shouldn’t they have? When Gov. Cuomo initially floated the Commission he hyped it as the nuclear option for eradicating corruption in Albany. After years of the Legislature thumbing its nose at cleaning up its act—even as its members were hauled off in handcuffs en masse—this Moreland Commission would be the broom that would sweep away the scum and shame the state’s lawmakers into instituting the reforms it is imperative we enact if New Yorkers are ever to regard Albany with anything but anger, embarrassment and distrust. It was to achieve this proud aim that so many accomplished and talented individuals gave their all to the Commission. 

Of course, they signed up long before Gov. Cuomo started spinning the revisionist depiction of the Commission’s creation that he now maintains was always the case. Had the governor portrayed the Commission from the outset as he does now—an extension of his will—they would never have gotten involved. These dignified men and women are not of the character to submit to being pawns. 

Sadly, because of how the Commission was misrepresented to them, these good people are now being tainted by the meddling and manipulation, the threats and the intrigue, that they bravely fought— and continue to fight—to resist. Ironically, public opinion seems to be turning against the Commission as a result of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation into its ignominious end, yet it is this same probe that may very well be what ultimately vindicates the noble work of its devoted members— and brings to fruition what they hoped to accomplish when they answered the governor’s call. This U.S. Attorney, who has shown no tolerance for corruption as usual, is perhaps just the Heracles needed to clean up the Augean stable of Albany. 

Lastly, a word about leaks. Gov. Cuomo has spoken disparagingly about the leaks that have come out of the Commission—as if it were the leaks, not the broken promises, brazen interference and cynical calculations that were the problem. 

It is disappointing to hear the governor resort to this “stop snitchin’ ” mentality. Last September U.S. Attorney Bharara issued a bold and inspiring challenge to the New York media to resurrect investigative reporting and embrace the proud tradition of muckraking. “A nation of sheep will get a government of wolves,” said Bharara, quoting the great Edward R. Murrow. 

Investigative reporting hinges on the courage of whistleblowers to come forth and expose what they know to be wrong, particularly when there is no other avenue for this information to see the light of day. 

The people who have taken grave personal and professional risks to disclose the truth about what happened behind closed doors in the Moreland Commission are not “play[ing] politics,” as the governor has suggested. They are true warriors for the public good—heroes who deserve our admiration and gratitude.