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Ethics reform unresolved in Albany

Office of Eric Schneiderman
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Flickr
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman delivering remars about ethics at Citizens Union forum.

There’s still no final three way deal on an ethics reform proposal at the state Capitol.  And reform groups say a proposal offered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Assembly does not go far enough.

The plan by Cuomo and Assembly Democrats requires that lawmakers disclose the source of all outside income they receive above $1,000. Lawyers must reveal the names of their clients if they earn more than $5,000. They would also have to prove they are actually in Albany, through an electronic monitoring system, before receiving their expense payments.

Reform groups say it’s a good first step, but that much more is needed to change a status quo at the Capitol that they say leads to corruption.

Dick Dadey, with Citizens Union, along with Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and others, says partial solutions are no longer sufficient.

“The problem is not so much lack of disclosure as it is about the activity,” Dadey said.

Dadey cites the January arrest of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who’s accused of illegally gaining millions of dollars in outside income from two law firms, as a prime example.

“It isn’t that we didn’t know enough about what happened with Shelly Silver’s outside income, it’s about the fact that there were conflicts,” Dadey said. “And that he was using his public post for private gain.”

Cuomo, when announcing his joint proposal on ethics with the Assembly, sought to place corruption in a historical context, and says he’s been battling it ever since he began as governor.

“We have been doing ethical reforms for four years and there has been a constant series of ethical advancements,” Cuomo said. “But we still need to do more. Why? Because there are still ongoing issues.”

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, in a recent speech on ethics reform to at a Citizens Union forum, says we are living in a “golden age of graft." And he says Cuomo, and other governors before him, have taken too many half measures to try to stem corruption, that have not been successful.

“We must break a pattern in which scandal is followed by outrage, which is followed by reforms that largely tinker at the margins, and a press conference declaring that the problem has been solved,” said Schneiderman. “Which, ultimately is followed by another scandal.”

The attorney general calls the process “one charade after another."

Schneiderman who used to be a state senator, wants to end outside income for legislators altogether.

“Outside employment income must be banned,” said Schneiderman, to applause.

Schneiderman says lawmakers, who make just under $80,000 a year would need a substantial salary increase in order for that to work.

And he says legislators should have to show receipts in order to collect expense reimbursements while they are in Albany, and a monetary cap should be set.

The attorney general also proposes public financing of political campaigns, and the closing of LLC loopholes, which permit donors to form Limited Liability Corporations to get around contribution limits.

The plan by Cuomo and the Assembly and would place greater restrictions on personal use of campaign funds, but elected officials could still use the money to pay for criminal defense attorneys.

The state Senate has not yet agreed to an ethics package

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau Chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 public radio stations in New York State. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.