Ethical Issues

John Sampson, State Senator, Indicted; Brooklyn Relieved He Wasn't Elected DA

Well, we guess the voters were right to re-elect Charles Hynes back in 2005, when he was pushed fairly hard in the democratic primary by challenger, state Sen. John Sampson. (Hynes won by about four percentage points.) Sampson, a 15-year veteran of the Legislature and chair of the senate ethics com ... More >>

NY GOP Wants Investigation Into Rep. Steve Israel's Sketchy Mortgage "Bailout"

The New York Post ran an "exclusive" story yesterday suggesting that Long Island Congressman Steve Israel's 2008 support of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for financially strapped banks is the reason he was granted a "bailout" on the mortgage for his Dix Hills home. The bank that holds Isr ... More >>

Charlie Rangel: The Poster Boy For Congressional Term Limits?

Congressman Charlie Rangel escaped this year's Democratic primary -- and subsequent recount -- with his job and likely will be returning to Congress for what will be his 22nd term, which begs the question: is it time for Congressional term limits?Just to put the longtime representative's reign into ... More >>

Charlie Rangel's Recount Lead Grows

Things are looking up for longtime Harlem Congressman Charlie Rangel, whose lead in a recount of last week's primary vote continues to grow.As of this writing, Rangel's lead over former state Senator Adriano Espaillat's is 1,158, which is up from the 802-margin the 82-year-old congressman boasted b ... More >>

Charlie Rangel Survives Primary (Despite Being 82 Years Old, Having Been Censured, And Being 82 Years Old)

Longtime Manhattan Congressman Charlie Rangel can breathe a sigh of relief -- the 82-year-old Democrat has survived what was expected to be the fight of his political life.Rangel, who fought in the Korean War before getting elected to Congress (42 years ago), came out on top in yesterday's five-pers ... More >>

Will Gustin L. Reichbach, Pot-Smoking Judge, Get In Trouble for Using Medical Marijuana? (UPDATE)

State Supreme Court Judge Gustin L. Reichbach outed himself as a pot-smoker in a New York Times op-ed today. Reichbach, you see, has battled pancreatic cancer for three and a half years. His current treatment includes high doses of chemotherapy, which leads to constant pain, nausea, insomnia, and ... More >>

Religion and Campaign Finance Reform Mix: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf To Talk Elections

Remember the "Ground Zero mosque" that wasn't just a mosque but actually a community center but still had people enraged back in 2010 because they thought it would be a victory monument to terrorism? We hadn't really thought about it much recently, either -- until today, when we heard that Imam Fei ... More >>

Occupy Wall Street Finance Report Reveals Money Woes; Press Team Unfazed In Statement

Yesterday, NY1 brought our attention to the news that New York's Occupy Wall Street appears to be tight on funds, findings based on on a weekly report for March 2 posted on the New York General Assembly's website. The Accounting Working Group report reads: "at our current rate of expenditure, we wil ... More >>

Rick Santorum Thinks The Separation of Church and State Is Nauseating

​Rick Santorum wants religion to play a bigger role in U.S. politics and the total separation of church and state makes him want to hurl. On the campaign trail today, Santorum emphasized his feelings about secularism -- that he finds it barf-worthy, according to The Associated Press (via Was ... More >>

NYCLU: Allowing Church Worship In Public Schools Violates Religious Freedom

The fight to block churches from using public school space got support today from the New York Civil Liberties Union, which says the policy is a threat to religious freedom. The Civil Liberties Union is arguing in testimony today that these kinds of arrangements between religious organizations and ... More >>

"Occupy Wall Street" Exploitation Examined By Olbermann and I

​On last night's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Keith and I chewed over the weird way TV and movie cameras have been diving onto Occupy Wall Street, from the Real World casting notice looking for activists to the alleged Dark Knight Rises flirtation with marching extras.

The New York Times Explores the Challenging World of Tattoo Etiquette

Never attempt to finish someone else's crossword. ​In this contemporary day and age, and also, summer, now that people are wearing less clothes, and tattoos are practically, like, shirts or at least jaunty vests in some parts of town, the question of how to behave in the presence of a tattoo h ... More >>

Anthony Weiner to Resign, Reports New York Times

According to a breaking news alert from the New York Times, disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner is set to resign over his sexting scandal. ​The Times reports that Weiner "came to the conclusion that he could no longer serve after having long discussions with his wife, Huma Abedin," who had returned ... More >>

Lap-Dancing Strippers Perform at Extra-Credit Business Ethics Symposium

​The past few months have brought a wave of collegiate indiscretions. There was the incident at Northwestern in which two people demonstrated the use of a device called the "fucksaw" in front of a human sexuality class. There was the roof-sex incident at USC. And now, a professor at Lasalle Un ... More >>

Meet The New Ethicist, Same As The Old Ethicist

via NYT​One of the less-discussed changes to the New York Times' revamped Sunday magazine is the changing of the guard in The Ethicist column. For years it was Randy Cohen, who I always imagined as a nebbishy man surrounded by dusty old books, pushing his glasses up his nose as he dispensed wi ... More >>

Judge Makes Boner Joke; Judicial Conduct Commission Doesn't Laugh

​The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, where judges go to be judged, is under fire from the State Bar Association. The New York Times reports that a Manhattan lawyer's group accused the commission of being unfair to judges. Still, of the roughly 1,800 complaints made against New Y ... More >>

Charlie Rangel Taking Donations to Backpay His Ethics Lawyers

​If you feel bad for poor, censured Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel, good news: he's taking donations again -- this time to pay the lawyers who failed him in his ethics trial. The House ethics committee (the same one that convicted him) just approved the creation of a fund to help pay his legal defense ... More >>

Sidebar: Fantasy Voter Fraud

Charlie Rangel's Sins Don't Rate Too High on the House Scam Meter

​ Charlie Rangel's pending date with a censure vote before the full House of Representatives has prompted a lot of historical digging into great congressional scalawags of the past. By any reasonable standard, Rangel -- no matter what you think of him -- appears to come up pretty short. Remar ... More >>

Charles Rangel to Insist He's Not That Bad

​I am not a crook, Rep. Charles Rangel of Harlem hopes to tell the House of Representatives in "a last stand to salvage his reputation." Rangel plans to ask the ethics committee for time on the floor in order to explain that his 11 counts of financial and fundraising "misdeeds" are not as bad ... More >>

Charlie Rangel D-Day: "Keep the Faith, Baby!"

​Charlie Rangel gets to hear his fate today from the congressional ethics panel and his many fans are weighing in on his behalf. After meeting with the state's congressional delegation, Governor Paterson last night (make that late last night -- 10:29 PM) released a statement praising Harlem's ... More >>

Censure for Charlie Rangel, House Ethics Committee Says (Liveblog)

​Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York's 15th congressional district, who was recently re-elected, was found guilty of 11 ethics violations on Tuesday. The House Ethics Committee is currently holding a hearing by which they'll hand down his punishment. There have been some pretty harsh words ... More >>

Charles Rangel Convicted On Ethics Violations

​Several news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, are reporting that House Ethics Committee has found veteran congressman Charles Rangel guilty of 11 ethics violations after less than 24 hours of deliberation. The 80-year-old Rangel, who served as chairman of  the House's Ways and Mea ... More >>

Anti-Flag

Poll of New Yorkers to Charlie Rangel: Drop Dead, You Suck Like the Rest of Them

​If a just-released poll is to be believed, New Yorkers have finally told 80 year-old congressman Charles Rangal -- currently under heavy scrutiny and investigation for a series of ethics charges -- to go away and not try to fight for his political career. These numbers are thick.

Mosque Fever Puts Mike Bloomberg Down in the Polls, But Up With the Voice. 'Thanks a lot,' Says Mayor

​Just how heavy a lift Mike Bloomberg took on last week when he ferried over to Governors Island to put the downtown mosque debate in the context of this city's great tradition of religious freedom came a little clearer yesterday with the new polls: He's way down. For the first time in five y ... More >>

Bruno Trial Recalls Ethics Bill Albany Shot Down in September

Legislators have been quick to condemn wrongdoing in the run-up to the trial of former State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who was indicted on corruption charges in January. But let's not forget that earlier this fall, Senate Republicans unanimously shot down a bill that would have gone a lon ... More >>

Vast White-Wing Conspiracy? 15% of Black House Members Under Investigation

David Paterson took a lot of heat for saying racism was behind his poor press and dismal poll numbers. When he tried to rope President Obama into the act, the White House distanced itself from the governor more strenuously than they did even from Bill Thompson. We wondered some time ago if maybe hi ... More >>

The Torture Doctors

These physicians have a strange way of preserving the American way of life

A Hevesi Heresy

Daring to doubt the governor's wisdom

Doctors With Borders

Bioethics matures into a formal academic field—and faces an identity crisis

Reform School Dropouts

Congress vows changes but makes only a few after Abramoff scandal

The War on Murtha

Congressman's theatrics about Iraq spark a new fracas out in the lobby

What's the Deal With the Tom DeLay Indictment?

Getting a grip on the Hammer and that criminal conspiracy charge

Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Rides Again

Hillary Haters Go Wild Over Campaign-Finance Acquittal

Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Rides Again

Hillary haters go wild over campaign finance case

Down by Law

Time for a Prayer Circle

Clinton and Kerry launch an unlikely crusade for religious freedom at work

Gay Marriage Shocker! Guess Who was Probed?

Thomas or Scalia? You choose.

The Culture of Death

Who Will Decide When You Should Die?

Lights Out in Florida

Katherine Harris Messes With Pamphlets This Time, Not Chads

Cyborg Liberation Front

Inside the Movement for Posthuman Rights

Pataki's Sick Department of Health

How a Collusive Contagion Has Infected a $34 Billion Bureaucracy

Bush Sr. Could Profit From War

Legal Group Blasts Papa Shrub on Bin Laden Link

Three Right-Wingers and a Transcendentalist

Gore, Bush, and Nader Reject Watchdog's Invite to Debate

Giuliani vs. Thomas Jefferson

God Will Be the Curriculum

Un-Covering Livingston

House of Hypocrites

While congress is set to sit in judgment of President Clinton, many of its members have their own indiscretions to deal with. Lucky for them Ken Starr isn't investigating them and the notoriously lax ethics committee is.

Ex'ed Files

The Ferraro Archives That Are Open to No One