It seems there is no end to the political corruption in New York. Jamaica Hospital and its parent company, MediSys, announced last week that they removed President and CEO David Rosen after federal investigators charged that he paid bribes to three elected officials. Rosen had been president of the hospital since 1980. It is not clear how long he has been paying bribes.
But bribing state legislators appears to be business as usual. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara charged that Rosen and former Parkway Hospital CEO Dr. Robert Aquino were part of a bribery conspiracy scheme in which they made payments to state Sen. Carl Kruger in exchange for Kruger taking official acts on their behalf. Bribes were also made to state Assemblyman William Boyland Jr., who had worked for MediSys, according to the indictment.
Bharara said that since taking office he has investigated a stream of corrupt elected officials who had to be prosecuted.
“Every single time we arrest a state senator or assemblyman, it should be a jarring wake-up call,” he said. “Instead, it seems that no matter how many times the alarm goes off, Albany just hits the snooze button.”
Corruption is a way of life in Albany. Bribes are nothing but the cost of doing business. The public long ago lost all trust in the state Legislature. We applaud Bharara or anyone willing to take on this battle.
Maybe Next Year
The dream ended as soon as it began. The St. John’s University basketball team made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002. Although the fifth seed in the Southeast Region, there was talk of the Johnnies going all the way.
The talk was mostly in the city, but everyone agreed SJU was back. They had finished in a tie for third place in the Big East. The Red Storm thrilled their supporters by knocking off top-ranked teams one after another in Madison Square Garden.
St. John’s was beaten by Gonzaga University 86-71 in a game that was never close after St. John’s grabbed a quick 10-5 lead.
The Red Storm also sorely missed one of their stars, the injured D.J. Kennedy.
But hope springs eternal and we fully expect St. John’s to be back next year with an even better team.
