A Q&A with Museum of Political Corruption founder Bruce Roter

While convicted legislative leaders Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos wait to hear how much time they’ll have to spend in prison, one part of their fate has already been decided: They’ll be part of a museum exhibit. Forever.

Bruce Roter is the founder and president of the board of trustees of the Museum of Political Corruption. And though it doesn’t have a physical location yet, it’s a registered nonprofit accepting donations (no bribes allowed) and hoping for a 2019 opening in Albany.

City & State’s Jeff Coltin spoke with Roter after Silver’s conviction – but before Skelos’ – to talk about corruption throughout history, New Yorkers’ resilience, and which state is the most corrupt.

City & State: You’re a composer and a music professor at the College of Saint Rose in Albany. Why the interest in politics?

Bruce Roter: I’ve always had an interest in combining politics or social causes with my creative efforts. One of my earliest orchestral compositions is called “Camp David Overture: A Prayer for Peace,” based on the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt. When I first moved to Albany I was commissioned by the Albany Symphony Orchestra to write a piece on the speeches and writings of Theodore Roosevelt, our former governor and president. He was something of a corruption buster, and the more I delved into Roosevelt’s writings and speeches, the more I became inspired by him and particularly his call for ordinary citizens to get involved with their community, for them to have civic responsibility. I took that to heart and I feel that by creating this museum I’m engaging in my civic responsibility.

C&S: When did you get the idea to actually make a monument to corruption?

BR: I don’t want to call it a monument to corruption and the last thing I want to do is to glorify corruption. That’s not our intent at all. We’re building a cultural institution where we can learn about corruption and where we can poke fun at corruption also. The idea came a couple of years ago when I was speaking to Kathy Sheehan, who’s now the mayor of Albany. She was running at the time. We were having coffee and I asked her, what do we have in Albany that we can be a bit more lighthearted or irreverent about? Because we’re such a serious bunch up here. And then it struck me, we have corruption! It’s what we’re known for, and rather than try and run away from it, which we can’t do anyway, we might as well embrace it, we might as well harness it, we might as well use it as a resource and make it into a tourist attraction. So that’s what I intend to do. The tourist revenue that comes into Albany will be well-deserved because the name of my city and my community has been dragged through the mud with every new sensational headline, often by lawmakers who don’t even call Albany their home. So if we can benefit from this, if Albany can become a leader in ethical governance and host this museum, then I think it will be fantastic for our community and for the state. 

C&S: In every article in which the museum is mentioned, the comments section is filled with people arguing for THEIR state – ‘no, MY state is the most corrupt.’ Do you think people take a certain glee in that? Why are they proud that their state, be it Illinois, Hawaii, D.C., is so dysfunctional?

BR: I don’t know if it’s a particular glee or not! It’s nice to be number one in something, I suppose. And New York has come out on top in certain polls in being the most corrupt state. Perhaps it’s just because we have so much money floating around in New York. I don’t think it’s actual joy, but I think if this museum can be useful to any community, then why not?

The museum is going to focus primarily on New York political corruption. We will probably devote space in the museum to exhibit corruption outside the borders of New York. We can’t forget about our friends in New Jersey, for instance, or Illinois. Although I can tell you that they’re clamoring for the same museum also. I’ve told them that once we’ve built this in Albany we can consider franchising.

C&S: Sheldon Silver has been convicted. Where does he fit in the roll call of corrupt politicians throughout history?

BR: If you go way back, even through the Tammany Hall era, he’s just another wave in a constantly flowing tide of corruption in New York state. I don’t want to overestimate the importance of his conviction, but I don’t want to underestimate it either. I think we need to look past him and past Skelos to really address the root causes of corruption, and that of course is just the insane amount of money that flows through Albany and doesn’t get channeled into helping the people of this state.

They say that there’s a culture of corruption here in Albany. With this museum, I intend to build a cultural institution to address that culture of corruption. This is nothing that can be done by a single indictment or even by a few indictments of single individuals. This needs to change the entire culture of how things are done in Albany, and I know that’s the intent of (U.S. Attorney) Preet Bharara and the prosecutors, but I think citizens have a role to play in this as well. And our role through this museum will be to (inspire people to) be informed and ultimately to vote. Because it’s our government that we create.

C&S: There’s been some outrage over the fact that Silver is expected to make up to $100,000 a year in pension. How do you think corrupt politicians should be treated after they’re convicted?

BR: I think they should lose their pension! I’m as outraged as the rest of the public should be over this. With the amount of money for things that it could have been used for to help the state, for him to continue to benefit from the trust of the people, which he abused and lost, I think, is terrible.

C&S: What’s your favorite corruption story from New York?

BR: The story of Nellie Bly, an investigative journalist out of New York City, a woman. She was really groundbreaking in this regard. She was working out of New York but she heard that you could buy the New York state Legislature. For a certain amount of money, you could have them pass or kill any bill that you wanted to. So she wanted to test that out. This was in 1888. So she took the train up to Albany and met with a Mr. Ed Phelps, nicknamed the King of Lobbyists at the time, at the Kenmore Hotel in downtown Albany. She chose a bill pretty much at random and she said, I would like this bill killed, how much will it cost me? And he took out a sheet of paper where he had listed all of the state legislators and he checked them off one by one to see what it would take and he told her, it would cost you $1,000 plus $250 in my personal fee. Amazing! And she said, OK, go ahead. He got the bill killed. They met subsequently in New York City so Mr. Phelps could collect on his money. Nellie Bly politely excused herself from the room. He just assumed she was going to get him her money, but she returned to her paper, the World. She just typed up the story and the rest is history. 

C&S: What’s the status of making the physical museum?

BR: We’re in the process. This past summer we received a charter from New York state, which formally organized us. And a charter is necessary for any museum recognized as an educational institution by New York state. A few weeks ago we just received our nonprofit 501(c)(3) status, which gives us the green light to go full steam ahead as far as our fundraising is concerned. This museum is going to be built on convictions and the generosity of the public. We’re in the visionary stage where we’re planning what the various exhibits would be for the museum. Of course fundraising is going to be essential, but we’re hoping to have the actual full facility completed by 2019. That date can be accelerated tremendously depending on funding of course.

I’ve assembled an amazing team of individuals on our board of trustees and our board of advisers who are political historians and museum experts. We have Susan Rose-Ackerman from Yale Law School. We have Zephyr Teachout, the former gubernatorial candidate, and she’s written a book on corruption. We have Frank Anechiarico who’s a professor of government at Hamilton College. And we’ve got Kathy Burton Jones who’s the director of museum studies at Harvard University. I’m humbled by the amount of talent that we’ve been able to assemble for this project. If anything, I’m a pretty good orchestrator. I know where to put the flutes and the oboes and the violins and I know how to make them work effectively with each other but I don’t happen to play any of those instruments.

C&S: With you surrounding yourself with all this corruption, do you ever get bummed out? Does it weigh on you?

BR: I don’t take it personally. Perhaps I’m resilient, and New Yorkers have to be resilient in this regard. We shouldn’t be bummed out or jaded by this. We have to look to the future and we have to feel empowered that we can make a difference. Just because there’s a culture of corruption nowadays doesn’t mean it will always have to be like this. We can’t let corruption win, and by building this museum, we don’t let corruption win.