ALBANY — Corruption is becoming the new normal in Albany — at least in the minds of voters, a new poll has found.
In the wake of the bribery scandal involving state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens, pictured) more than four out of every five New York voters expect additional state legislators to be arrested on corruption charges soon, according to the Siena College survey, which was released yesterday.
And about one-third of voters believe that their own state senator or Assembly member could be a crook, according to the poll.
Siena found more than nine of every 10 voters identify corruption in the state Legislature as a serious problem.
And 54 percent would even back a pay raise for legislators in exchange for them becoming full-time state employees — with a ban on outside jobs that could pose corruption conflicts, the April 14-18 telephone survey of 811 registered voters found.
“Clearly, the recent arrests have eroded confidence in the Legislature,” said Siena poll spokesman Steven Greenberg. who has presided over multiple scandals in nearly 20 years as a legislative leader. “Corruption and illegal activity has not been and will not be tolerated. The (bad) behavior unfairly, I think, reflects on the legislature as a whole.”