A landscape carved by scandal

Getting lucky on an incumbent's scandal has become a time-honored if unpredictable way for New York politicians to move up.

Call it the ejection cycle. It rivals the election cycle as a force for turnover in a hypercompetitive world. The fickle finger of civic sin and looming law enforcement have carved out today's electoral landscape to a remarkable degree.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, due to take over as governor next week, faultlessly becomes the latest winner of the scandal-succession lottery. Charges of wrongdoing have effectively pushed Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo out the door, giving his two-time running mate an incumbent’s head start in next year’s elections.

Now Hochul gets a properly constitutional tryout for the big job.

Lightning also struck for Gov. David A. Paterson, Cuomo’s predecessor, who flubbed his tryout. As lieutenant governor, Paterson stepped into the Executive Mansion after Gov. Eliot Spitzer quit. The sanctimonious Spitzer had been caught hiring sex workers. Paterson got into lesser troubles such as involving state troopers in an aide's domestic-abuse dispute. He didn't run in 2010, giving Attorney General Cuomo his chance to advance.

And we're not just talking about the top job.

Letitia James was elected attorney general three years ago by a big margin. The opening resulted from the resignation of Eric Schneiderman, who had been a strong bet for another term. But it came out that Schneiderman physically abused women with whom he was involved, and he was gone, too. He stepped aside, admitted fault, and was not prosecuted.

Longtime Assemb. Thomas P. DiNapoli of Great Neck Plaza became state comptroller when his legislative colleagues voted him into the job vacated by Alan Hevesi. Hevesi had just been reelected when he quit in 2006 as part of a plea bargain with the Albany County Court over assigning state employees to care for his ailing wife. (Only later did Hevesi do time for a "pay to play" scheme regarding the state pension fund.) DiNapoli redeemed the initial appointment by winning three terms of his own.

That's the landscape in the executive branch. Then there's the State Legislature.

Assemb. Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), who initiated Cuomo’s impeachment, ascended to speaker six years ago after Assemb. Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) was forced out while facing major corruption charges for which he’s since been convicted and incarcerated.

Succession-by-scandal has affected Republicans, too.

The Senate's previous majority leader, former Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport), succeeded Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), who lost his powerful job in 2015 amid a corruption scandal that brought his conviction and imprisonment.

Skelos succeeded as GOP leader the late Joe Bruno, who retired while under federal investigation for corruption charges on which he was convicted but ultimately cleared.

For now, Hochul makes history not as the first woman to become lieutenant governor but the first to ascend from it.

Lt. Gov. Mary Anne Krupsak ran and lost a Democratic primary against Gov. Hugh Carey. Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey Ross did the same against Gov. George Pataki. f

Accidental incumbents rely on voter redemption to stay on. DiNapoli, Heastie, Cuomo and Flanagan all won subsequent elections.

Gliding into office because your predecessor imploded is one way into the job. But as Hochul for one clearly knows, keeping it requires a game plan of one's own.

Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.

By Dan Janison

dan.janison@newsday.comDanJanison

Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.