What is stunning is not the criminal indictment of former Majority Leader Joseph Bruno but that it took until the twilight of his career for it to finally happen.

What made Bruno standout from the overwhelming culture of corruption not only at the State Capitol but throughout the American political system was his willingness to blatantly trumpet his belief that his personal enrichment was a legitimate goal of him holding elected office.

Political corruption is now so routine that behavior by politicians that would have been scandalous in the pre-Watergate era is not only ignored by the media and the public but is sometimes even the subject of photo opportunities organized by the lawmakers.

Bruno’s self-proclaimed legacy as a “successful businessman” was based on openly telling prospective clients, even nonprofits, that it would “benefit” them to buy a telephone system from a State Senator. When he was fined by the State Department of Environmental Conservation, as a part owner of First Grafton Corporation, for illegally building a road through a wetland, his response was to hold a press conference to announce that as a state Senator he would seek to change the law that he had broken. When asked by the press whether he thought this was a conflict of interest, he defiantly said no.

With the removal of Bruno and his Republican colleagues from control of the State Senate, the politicians’ game of blaming the other side for failure to enact government reform is over. It is time for the Democrats to deliver on public campaign finance reform, increased restrictions on lobbying, far stronger ethics legislation and transparency in government operations. A campaign contribution still remains the best investment that a businessperson can make – and they routinely do so. It is striking how cheaply so many elected official can be bought. Sadly, such issues were noticeably missing from Governor Paterson’s recent state of the state address. Lawmakers in both houses need to insist that these issues come up for an early vote.

The pace of criminal indictment of state lawmakers for corruption has picked up in recent years. Unfortunately once again someone other than Albany District attorney David Soares indicted Mr. Bruno despite Soares’ pledge four years to make cleaning up the corruption at the State Capitol a priority. His one significant indictment for political corruption came after the incoming Governor indicated it was time to remove the State Comptroller after Mr. Hevesi’s opponent made it publicly known that Hevesi had been improperly using state resources to provide assistance to his invalid wife.

We must also acknowledge that many civic leaders, the legal system, the media and an array of interest groups enable the culture of corruption to thrive in our political system. Too often the media portrayed Mr. Bruno as the loveable scamp due to his willingness to provide colorful quotes. Too many groups, including many nonprofits in his district, allowed Mr. Bruno to buy their silence with his plentiful member items. Many groups would refuse to speak out on budget cuts promoted by Mr. Bruno because their own organization was receiving tens of thousands of dollars through his office. Meanwhile, hundreds of similar organizations in the rest of the state were unable to provide needed services to their clients.

What New York has lost is a public sense of integrity. The indictment of Mr. Bruno is not in itself sufficient to restore it.