[JK: A comment submitted by someone using the name Chuckery cuts through the noise]
We live in an age of deflection. Like children taken to task, we attempt to deflect scrutiny of our behavior with red herrings: “There’s nothing to see here. It’s all a conspiracy; it’s a Republican vs. Democrat thing; its racially motivated; and besides, the transgression involved eight minutes, a jug of Drano and a clogged sink”. These logical fallacies conveniently elide over the crux of the matter.
Mr. Golub’s lack of judgment in using City resources for personal purposes occurred when he was a City officer. While some City officials and residents may view the ethics and integrity of their public officers as situationally optional, Mr. Golub’s current employer does not. The State of New York has zero tolerance for unethical behavior that violates the Public Officer’s Law. “Public officials must exemplify the highest ethical standards. This includes using state resources only to conduct state business. There is no place for engaging in private sector work or transactions in a state office or using state employees or resources to perform such work.” (Executive Director, NYS Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government).
Regardless of the outcome of Mr. Golub’s case, it is likely his new employer will determine his continued employment creates a political liability the State is unwilling to bear. What message does it send his agency’s 25,000+ employees when a newly-appointed member of their leadership team deemed it acceptable to use public resources for private purposes?
Red herrings aside, Mr. Golub clearly exercised questionable judgment and violated the public trust. He needs to reflect on the choice he made and ask himself if his decision to use City resources was worth tarnishing his reputation, potentially losing his job and compromising his future livelihood. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the strength of character and integrity we expect and should demand from our public servants. This is about ethics and integrity in government. It’s not about a conspiracy, racial bias, the R’s vs. the D’s, or that silly argument that eight minutes, a jug of Drano and a clogged sink makes this much ado about nothing.
Saratoga Springs Politics 
Yes, I suppose that Jason Golub could lose his new state position because of all this. Frankly, I hope that it doesn’t come to that. First of all, we don’t know whether the former Commissioner came into the office that day to direct a City employee to go to his house to unclog a drain or if he came in and, in an offhand manner, mentioned the clogged drain and questioned whether it was a problem with his home plumbing or a problem with the City’s sewer system. A member of the DPW staff may have mentioned it to a foreman who assigned two employees to check out the problem. Once they realized that it was an easily solved problem with the home plumbing and not a systemic issue, they decided to do the repair themselves while they were in the house. It was wrong to involve City employees but it may have been a situation that got out of control without much forethought on the part of the former Commissioner.
Is this a situation that simply evolved without much thought or a matter of poor judgement or a significant ethical lapse or a serious theft of public services? We don’t know the pertinent details. We should all acknowledge that City employees should never be used to service a Commissioner’s home.
I would suggest that former Commissioner Golub take the high road. He should fire his attorney and distance himself from Mr. Sleight’s outrageous statements. He should plead guilty in court and apologize to the entire community for his lapse in judgement. While public officials should ‘exemplify the highest ethical standards’ in order to serve as examples to all state employees and officials, it is also true that a public official who takes full responsibility for a lapse in judgement and who acknowledges that they are not perfect is also providing good example for all.
Chris Mathiesen
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While I agree with Chris that all ethical lapses should be addressed and an honorable elected official should take responsibility, I’d ask both current elected officials and some on the current Democratic Committee, take credit for their hypocrisy in that they easily ignored (and/or defended) some serious ethical lapses (being kind as I believe they were intended) of former and current Dem Committee members when in office in the past.
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