Our Broken Moral Compass

President Trump has stretched the ethical boundaries that exist for public officials to lengths not usually seen. But anyone looking closely at two trials over the past five months in which Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo were supporting actors even though they were charged with no crimes knows that the balance of politics and governance is out of whack at the state and local levels as well.

The long-running trial of Joseph Percoco, Mr. Cuomo’s former Executive Secretary—and whose closeness went beyond the title—offered a seamy look at government that won’t generally be found in political-science textbooks. Much of it was at best peripheral to the crimes that were charged, and was introduced by prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office to make clear to jurors why businessmen seeking contracts with the Cuomo administration had motive to bribe Mr. Percoco.