The Bear Mountain Compact is an unofficial agreement among members of the New York State legislature in which they agree to keep whatever happens in the state capital in Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, such as extramarital affairs and other embarrassing behavior, secret. "The Bear Mountain Compact" is similar to the Blue Code of Silence (also the Blue Wall of Silence), in which police officers never inform on one another, Omertà

Omertà

Omertà is a popular attitude and code of honour and a common definition is the "code of silence". It is common in areas of southern Italy, such as Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, and Campania, where criminal organizations defined as Mafia such as the Cosa Nostra, 'Ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita, and...

, the code of silence

Code of silence

A code of silence is a condition in effect when a person opts to withhold what is believed to be vital or important information voluntarily or involuntarily....

 among Mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

 organizations, and the expression "Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

Origin

In his article for New York magazine, Michael Tomasky traces the secrecy in Albany "back to the days [in the 19th and early 20th centuries] when the Democratic hotel was the De Witt Clinton, the Republican hotel was the Ten Eyck, and one didn't pry too deeply into who was sleeping where."

Explanation of the Term

In their book, "From Rocky to Pataki: Character and Caricatures in New York Politics" (1998),‎ Hy Rosen and Peter Slocum write that the "so-called Bear Mountain Compact dictated that anything that went on north of Bear Mountain

Bear Mountain (Hudson Highlands)

Bear Mountain is one of the best-known peaks of New York's Hudson Highlands. Located mostly in Orange County's Town of Highlands, it lends its name to a nearby bridge and the state park that contains it....

 wasn't ever discussed back home in New York City." In the New York Times, however, Al Baker associates the Bear Mountain Compact with the Bear Mountain Bridge

Bear Mountain Bridge

The Bear Mountain Bridge is a toll suspension bridge in New York State, carrying U.S. Highways 202 and 6 across the Hudson River between Rockland and Westchester counties...

, writing, "For years, the joke has been that the mostly male lawmakers and their hangers-on have clung to a secret code known as the Bear Mountain compact, whereby any liaisons with interns or young staff members that occur north of Bear Mountain Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between Orange and Westchester Counties, are not spoken about in the home districts in New York City or elsewhere."

One traditional, political definition of "Bear Mountain Compact" describes where "open secrets stay secret."

Additional reading

Albany Times-Union, TU Editors' blog, September 20, 2006, "Rex Smith: Sometimes, the private turns public