Corruption by New York pols has been in the headlines, but in Albany what’s legal can also turn stomachs — as when the state’s education czar opts to co-chair a campaign for mayor without giving up her official duties.
Sound unseemly? Not to Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, who insists there’s nothing wrong with her decision to co-chair Bill Thompson’s bid for mayor while serving as New York’s top education boss.
“My role is at the state level,” Tisch says. “We don’t manage [individual] school districts.” Besides, she adds, she can maintain her independence and will “help anybody who becomes mayor.” Lawyers, she says, see no conflicts. Not that anyone’s questioning the legality, mind you.
It’s no surprise, of course, that Tisch sees nothing wrong. New York officials rarely see problems with any arrangement that works for them. Yet her decision is bound to reinforce public cynicism. And let’s be honest: The problem with Tisch’s dual roles goes beyond appearance.
As Bob McManus has noted on these pages, Tisch oversees all school matters statewide, including in the city. She’ll have to deal with the next mayor, directly or indirectly, whether Thompson wins or one of his foes does. Are folks to think her political ties won’t color her official decisions?
Already, those ties might be creating conflicts: For instance, unless the teachers union and city agree on a plan for rating teachers by Saturday, Tisch’s folks will impose one. Thompson, meanwhile, is seeking the union’s endorsement, and a plan favoring the union could help him get it.
Tisch’s moonlighting speaks volumes about New York’s political milieu — and not just regarding its low bar.
Consider who’s on the list for a Thompson fund-raiser she’s hosting in June: Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers and former boss of the city’s teachers union. Also, Hazel Dukes, who runs the teachers-union-funded New York chapter of the NAACP (and brings her own ethical baggage — she once stole $13,000 from a cancer patient).
Tisch herself owes her job to ethically tainted Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, who in turn is in thrall to (you guessed it) the teachers unions. No wonder she sees no conflict in shilling for Thompson.