Suffolk Closeup
Trotta’s campaign finance bill takes aim at Suffolk’s pay-to-play politics

With money corrupting the democratic process a major issue in the United States, New York State and Suffolk County, Suffolk Legislator Rob Trotta has introduced a bill to limit campaign contributions from county contractors and public employee unions. The latter would include police unions, which have become big players in Suffolk politics providing large campaign contributions. Trotta, a member of the Suffolk County Police Department for 25 years, ties this to pay increases Suffolk police have received.

The East End has retained its own town and village police forces but they receive assistance from specialized county police units such as the homicide and arson squads, and the towns pay substantially for that and towards county police headquarters functions.

Trotta’s measure is titled the Campaign Finance Reform Act. The bill and its sponsor are both blunt about the corrosive influence of dollars in Suffolk politics today. As to prospects for his bill, Trotta remarked: “I would hope that given the current climate of corruption, my colleagues will support it.” Asked about which governmental levels he is linking to corruption, he responded: “National, state — and Suffolk County.”

Many Americans, indeed, see big money having a heavy hand in U.S. presidential races and manipulating the U.S. Congress which has descended to record lows in public respect. In New York State, the second- and third-highest state officials, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, have been convicted on federal corruption charges. Silver was sentenced to 12 years this week and Skelos awaits sentencing.

That’s been the destination of a long line of state lawmakers in recent years for their corrupt doings. Zephyr Teachout, a law professor and author of the book “Corruption in America” did extraordinarily well in a Democratic primary challenge last year to Governor Andrew Cuomo in which she focused on corruption in state government. She’s now running for Congress. And for Suffolk, a federal probe into wrongdoing in the justice system is underway. This includes a grand jury investigation into Christopher McPartland, the top corruption prosecutor in the Suffolk DA’s office, notes Trotta.

Trotta’s measure opens by declaring that the “general public perceives that ‘special interests’ use campaign contributions to gain extraordinary access to, and favorable cooperation from, government officials.” The “general public believe that this ‘pay to play’ culture results in government contracts being awarded on the basis of connections and contributions rather than merit,” it goes on.

“Suffolk County residents also perceive that large monetary donations from the county’s public employees unions improperly influence the officials responsible for negotiating and ratifying collective bargaining agreements,” it says.

It states that “elected officials must take appropriate steps to eliminate not only corruption but the appearance of corruption and thereby strengthen the public’s faith in political institutions.”

“Limiting the amount of campaign contributions that contractors and public employee unions can make to county officials is a reform measure that will strengthen public confidence in the integrity of the political system and increase the likelihood that county contracts will, in fact, be awarded to the best qualified individuals and businesses,” says the measure.

It would restrict to $2,000 contributions to a candidate for a seat on the 18-member Suffolk Legislature from any “professional business entity” which received a contract that year from Suffolk County government. If that entity’s contracts totaled $25,000 or more during the year, it would also be limited to $2,000 in campaign contributions to any “candidate for county-wide elected office.” The same limitation of $2,000 in contributions to candidates for the Suffolk Legislature and for county-wide office would apply to public employee unions. And these would include the now highly politically engaged Suffolk police unions.

Limiting “the contributions that contractors and public employee unions can make to elected county officials and candidates for county office,” says the measure, would “reduce special interest influence in the county’s contracting process.”

Trotta criticizes the extent of pay increases given in contracts with county police in recent years.

“I don’t blame the police unions; I don’t blame the cops. I blame the politicians who approved these contracts,” he says. He is particularly critical of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. The increased pay for county police— many now make with overtime more than $200,000 a year, he says—is ”not sustainable.” This is telling criticism from a man who began as a uniformed Suffolk cop, was promoted to detective and for his last decade in the department was assigned to federal task forces including the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force. A Republican from Fort Salonga, he was first elected to the Suffolk Legislature in 2013.

In a prepared statement as he introduced his bill, Trotta said: “With all the corruption we are seeing in the various levels of government, I believe that this measure is a step in the right direction toward curtailing the process of doing business as usual in Suffolk County.”

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books. Grossman and his wife Janet live in Sag Harbor. Suffolk Closeup is a syndicated opinion column on issues of concern to Suffolk County residents.