The Times has a good editorial outlining a number of outstanding priorities as the state legislative session enters its final few days. At the top of the list: campaign finance reform. As the Times observes:

The bill now being considered is less than the good citizens of this state deserve, but it is far better than what we have now. Unfortunately, Senate Leader Joseph Bruno and his Republican majority are stalling. The Senate Republicans apparently don’t want to give up the easy money, especially from limited liability corporations that are now the favored loophole for well-heeled contributors.

Joe Bruno, who resents public service because it doesn't make him enough money, came right out and said last week that he thinks campaign finance reform is just a worthless idea in general. In a quote that set new and interesting benchmarks for chuztpah, the boss of New York's Senate Republican machine insisted that "Money does not buy elections," dismissing reform as "hocus-pocus." But Bruno's moral nullity really shines through in how he uses complaints about donation bundling as an excuse to reject any kind of reform, particularly of the LLCs through which real estate interests funnel millions of dollars a year into the pockets of Senate Republicans.

It isn't just that money buys elections (though as a master of the principle of using member item funds to keep himself in power, Bruno knows full well that it does). It's that money buys representation. Maybe for Joe Bruno it's such a reflex these days that he doesn't think about it. Joe Bruno is a businessman, not a public servant, and maybe he just doesn't see anything wrong with buying and selling democracy the way he buys and sells real estate.

But New Yorkers might beg to differ. And they'll remember that if campaign finance reform fails, it'll be Joe Bruno who killed it.

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