I have been saying this for as long as I have been following Albany politics.

FIXING NY’S BROKEN GOV’T: SHELLY & JOE MUST GO

January 1, 2007 — AS if anyone needed more proof that government in New York was in an ongoing state of moral dissolution, the interregnum between November’s election and the New Year brought the fall of state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, forced to leave office in disgrace for the private use of state employees, and a federal investigation of Senate leader Joe Bruno for suspicious business dealings and misallocation of state funds.

Plus, the U.S. Census reports that New York is actually losing population - with more natives moving away than new folks moving in. That’s the very definition of an unhealthy society.

I saw our state government up close for 18 years as a lobbyist on behalf of family-owned and independent businesses, and many years as an Assembly and Senate staffer. What goes on in Albany has always been messy, and sometimes inept and even incoherent - but it’s never been this appalling. Standards of personal and professional behavior have plummeted.

I’ve known state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno for years; he’s never seemed capable of criminal wrongdoing. But there it was in the papers: the feds’ probe of $1 million in state money given to Evident Technologies - a high-tech firm created by a close Bruno friend and major Republican contributor who happens to be under investigation for giving Bruno free travel on his private jet. Bruno’s friend also has business pending before the Senate as an investor bidding to control the state’s thoroughbred racing franchise.

Bruno, for his part, says the deals were all above-board and that he’s innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever. I sincerely hope so; I like Joe and know he’s done many good things for New York.

But it’s simply inexcusable