For the past eight years and across two impeachment trials, the Democratic Party has defined itself in opposition to Donald Trump’s corruption, assailing the ways he abused the presidency for his own financial and political benefit. But with Mayor Eric Adams of New York fighting a federal corruption indictment, former Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey awaiting sentencing for a similar fraud and bribery scheme and numerous California officials sitting in federal prison, it’s hard to deny that corruption is a bipartisan problem.
For a party that wraps itself in the mantle of truth and integrity, pointing across the aisle and saying “they’re worse” is not good enough. For the sake of their electoral fortunes, not to mention the country they purport to serve, Democrats must show voters a serious plan to curb corruption and corporate crime — including within their own ranks.
Mr. Adams is accused of hitting up Turkish executives for campaign contributions and disguising their illegal origins via front donors. On the side, according to the allegations, he’d fly Turkish Airlines to exotic locales, receiving tens of thousands of dollars in business class seats, luxury hotel stays and meals.
In return, Mr. Adams is accused of influencing several city decisions, most notably the fire safety certification for a garish new headquarters for Turkish diplomatic missions at United Nations Plaza. The indictment quotes a Fire Department inspector’s email citing “major issues” with the alarm system. Told that he’d lose his job if he balked, the fire prevention chief cleared the way for the building to open anyway, on the Turkish government’s schedule.
The betrayal of public trust alleged here is shocking: The mayor of New York may have tampered with fire safety provisions for a Manhattan skyscraper — to please a foreign government.
In Mr. Menendez’s case, Egypt was the main authoritarian government to benefit from a Democrat’s corruption. For cash and gold payments, he provided information about U.S. embassy staffing and military assistance policy to Egyptian government contacts, met with Egyptian intelligence officials and helped lobby his Senate colleagues to release a hold on $300 million in military aid. In Los Angeles and San Francisco, Democratic officials have been implicated in myriad bribery and kickback schemes, often involving commercial real estate, including on behalf of Chinese investors. In the context of climate change and an affordable housing crisis, land use policy is as important on the California coast as skyscraper safety is in New York.
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