editorial 28 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 6, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com SNAPS QUEENS WHITESTONE BRIDGE AT NIGHT PHOTO BY MARY GRACE FARRUGGIA Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us tag @ queenscourier on Instagram, Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@qns. com (subject: Queens Snaps). Part-time policies equal full-time corruption The thought of raising an elected offi cial’s pay often causes people to wretch in disgust. That’s especially true in New York state, which has seen over the last decade one lawmaker after another shackled and marched into a courtroom to answer to charges of public corruption. Whenever an Assembly member or state senator takes a perp walk, our trust in government — already shaken by bad decisions — is eroded even more. We often ask ourselves how we allow this to happen time and again, but we don’t look as deeply into the problem as we should. New York state lawmakers are considered part-time workers; they only spend six months of the year in active session in Albany. They are also permitted to take on side jobs away from government. In recent years, however, we’ve seen some unscrupulous politicians use their part-time work to their advantage, manipulating a fl awed system of government in Albany. Fortunately, a number of them were caught. Consider the late Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, who supplemented his job by opening up a consulting fi rm which he used to funnel kickbacks from companies doing business with the state. Consider also former Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin, who embezzled funds from the unions he represented in his side job as president of the Central Labor Council. Consider also ousted Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who used his other job with a law fi rm to accept bribes in exchange for his infl uence in government. The reality is that if we want to stop Albany’s “pay-to-play” culture, we have to start by making our state lawmakers full-time employees and prohibiting them from holding any other job while in offi ce. In order to do this, the state must also increase the lawmakers’ pay. New York State legislators make $79,500 annually — and they haven’t had a pay increase in 17 years. A state commission has recommended a raise, but Governor Andrew Cuomo has balked at the idea, noting that any increases should fi rst be approved by his appointees. We’re not naive enough to believe that raising pay and changing the law will completely eliminate corruption. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reforming Albany. More must be done to regulate campaign fi nance and diminish the infl uence of lobbyists; that task won’t be easy. Nevertheless, we believe that these changes would go a long way toward ending the “pay-to-play” culture and send a message to everyone in government that those who would sell out their constituents have no business being there. THE QUEENS PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ART DIRECTOR ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR ARTISTS STAFF REPORTERS CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS EVENTS COORDINATOR ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JONATHAN RODRIGUEZ, CHERYL GALLAGHER KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA SUZANNE MONTEVERDI CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI JACLYN HERTLING DEBORAH CUSICK CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.qns.com editorial e-mail: [email protected] for advertising e-mail: [email protected] Entire Contents Copyright 2016 by The Queens Courier All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold THE QUEENS COURIER and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. Take action to stop wrongful convictions BY COUNCILMAN RORY I. LANCMAN It’s a tale of two criminal justice systems. Brooklyn’s eight overturned convictions last year made New York second in the nation for overturned convictions, behind only Texas—and the de Blasio administration is refusing to adopt proven policies to protect against wrongful convictions, even as legal experts and wrongfully convicted New Yorkers are warning that future mistaken incarcerations are only a matter of time. Last month, my committee, Courts & Legal Services, held a joint hearing with the Public Safety Committee, titled “Wrongful Convictions: Using Evidence-Based Procedures and Technology to Keep Innocent People Out of Jail.” The hearing focused primarily OPED on mandating video footage of custodial interrogations and reforming witness identifi cation processes in an effort to cut down on wrongful convictions— but the NYPD refused to show up to the hearing to discuss what, if any, procedures it currently has in place to protect against wrongful convictions. Instead, the department submitted written testimony citing that the NYPD has recorded approximately 5,000 custodial interrogations since it began a pilot program in 2011. That only averages out to about 1,000 recordings each year in a city with nearly 450,000 felony arrests in the past fi ve years. Not only do these numbers not add up, but they also contradict the judges, defense attorneys and wrongfully convicted New Yorkers who testifi ed that they haven’t seen evidence of regular videotaping of interrogations. As the New York State Justice Task Force recommended years ago, every custodial interrogation in serious cases needs to be videotaped—but because there have been so few interrogations taped in the past fi ve years, it’s clear that we can’t rely on this administration to implement reform on its own. In addition to videotaped interrogations, our city’s witness identifi cation processes need major reforms to stop the misidentifi cations that lead to wrongful convictions. Switching to double-blind lineups—a method where the police offi cer who is administering the array of possible suspects to a witness doesn’t even know who the suspect is—has also been shown to stop false identifi cations. Our city needs to make sure that we are taking initiatives to implement real reforms by passing legislation. At the hearing, judges testifi ed that the city has the capacity to mandate double-blind lineups and the recording of all relevant interrogations, so it’s time for us to act. I’ve already began exploring legislation that would require serious interrogations to be recorded. Our city must do everything possible to make sure that innocent New Yorkers never have to spend time in jail for crimes they didn’t commit. Councilman Rory I. Lancman is the chairman of the Courts & Legal Services Committee.
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