NY, Where Corruption is King

Former Orange County NY Executive Edward Diana and two other officials with the Orange County Industrial Development Agency plead guilty to numerous felony charges in Goshen yesterday. The agency’s former managing director Vincent Cozzolino plead guilty to the most serious charge of corrupting government and must pay $1 Million in restitution with 5 years of probation. The I.D.A.’s former CEO Laurie Villasuso plead guilty to the same charge and must pay $175,000.00 in restitution. Diana served on the I.D.A.’s oversight board for the past six years. He plead guilty to two counts of offering a false instrument for filing and must pay $90,000.00 in restitution. Prosecutors allege Villasuso and Diana were both paid employees of Cozzolino’s consulting firm. Who paid no attention to Cozzolino’s plan to use the I.D.A. to line his pockets. Cozzolino’s consulting firm is called Galileo Technology Group. Diana served 3 terms as Orange County Executive.
Another sad example of corruption in New York. The history of the government of New York is also, in large measure, the history of the misgovernment of New York. It is an entertaining history, full of thieves, rascals, and knaves, full of bold schemes and brazen misconduct. Now and then, as if in some ancient legend, a hero emerges to fight the bad guys. In this story, the hero’s are Orange County Legislator Jimmy O’Donnell and DA Hoovler who rooted this out.
Always, below the surface, serious questions press for attention—questions that strike at the heart of our faith that “we, the people” possess the qualities that are needed to make self-government work. The story of corruption in New York is the story of the bosses who have organized and profited from that corruption, but it is more than that. It is the story of the contractors who have gotten rich from their arrangements with the bosses, but it is more than that. In the end it is the story of the people of New York ,shrugging their shoulders, selling their votes, going about their business. That’s the sad thing about this story and we’re all left the poorer for it and we get the government we deserve.