To the Editor:

Most people would agree that honest government will be good government. Most people would also agree that political office shouldn’t be for sale.

Enter New York’s Limited Liability Corporation loophole. How does it work? People and corporations with a lot of money set up numerous LLCs. Money flows through the LLCs to the political campaign of whoever’s political soul is for sale.

There was hope when the Brennan Institute brought suit in New York’s Supreme Court to reform the loophole, but the court pulled out its Pontius Pilate bowl and declared that LLCs were a legislative problem.

There was another ray of hope in a bipartisan State Assembly bill to regulate the loophole. It passed the Assembly, but died in the Republican-controlled Senate. In case you haven’t been paying attention, voting reform, ethics reform, actually anything with reform in its title dies in the Senate.

The New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics is the definition of useless. Governor Andrew Cuomo has talked about reform for two terms, but empty words and inaction are his eight-year track record.

New Yorkers love to complain about high taxes, and people and businesses leaving the state, and corruption, and then vote in the same career politicians that cause it.

If you aren’t voting for someone who isn’t screaming for reform you are as much to blame as the likes of Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos in government. Do your homework before you vote. Be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Bill Goergen

Guilderland