Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Hank Morris calls for reform

From the Daily News:

Hank Morris, disgraced ex-Controller Alan Hevesi’s longtime political consultant, was sent away for masking his role as ringleader in a state pension fund pay-to-play scandal. But he also was charged with arranging campaign donations for Hevesi from firms in exchange for fund business.

As he argued unsuccessfully for his freedom at a recent hearing before the state parole board, Morris said political campaigns should be publicly financed.

“I believe that if you’re doing business with the state government or any government, you shouldn’t be allowed to make political contributions regarding that government,” he said, according to a transcript.

Morris insisted that while some firms he did business with donated to Hevesi, it was not done with promises of access to the pension fund. And he said the same still a the situation was no different than what still goes on.

“The highest officials in the state right now have millions of dollars sitting in their campaign accounts from government, state contractors, city contractors, etc.,” he said. “Would it be better to have a different system? Absolutely.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nonsense. The real problem is the power the government has. This is the incentive to bribe / buy legislators. These companies attack other companies or defend themselves with political influence. Limit the power and the money will take care of itself.

Jerry Rotondi said...

These crooked pols and their pals need to be thrown into general pop--no country club incarceration for these criminals.

Since they are public figures--and are supposed to be setting fine examples--I'd even double their jail terms!