ALBANY—Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is split on David Paterson’s government reform proposals: he likes public campaign financing but thinks forcing lawyers to disclose their clients treads into a “complicated area of ethics.”
“I and my Assembly majority colleagues have long supported, long passed and I personally offered the first publicly financed campaign finance bill Read More
ALBANY—In his State of the State Address, David Paterson dispensed with all pleasantries and attacked the past actions of the legislators and other prominent New Yorkers sitting before him.
“My colleagues, the times are measured. I would ask for your understanding that we dispense with the flourishes and formalities,” he said, and launched immediately into Read More
ALBANY—Apparently, as they devised a way to completely overhaul government ethics in New York, David Paterson’s staffers didn’t consult with Michael Cherkasky, the man Paterson praised as the “perfect person and most qualified to restore public confidence” in ethics enforcement.
“They haven’t called,” Cherkasky, who Paterson appointed as head of the Commission on Public Read More
ALBANY—A day after leaking them to the Times, several senior officials in the Paterson administration held a conference call to release details of the “Reform Albany Act,” which will be a major part of the governor’s State of the State address tomorrow.
And unabashed spin!
“The reform Albany act brings a level of independence Read More
ALBANY—Andrew Cuomo has a proposal to tighten up ethics enforcement in the wake of the conviction of former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno: just let him do it.
“You can go create another bureaucracy, and if it was a truly independent bureaucracy, I would support it,” Cuomo said on a conference call, in Read More
ALBANY—Just before David Paterson’s speech in the financial district about the state’s fiscal woes, Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch said he was disappointed in the “ratio of coverage” that ethics reform has gotten in recent days, since former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno was convicted Monday of two federal fraud charges.
It has Read More
ALBANY—Rick Lazio, the only Republican who is openly campaigning for governor, said he was “disappointed in Joe” after his conviction yesterday of federal fraud charges.
Lazio is running to “replace state government,” apparently including the current system of ethics enforcement.
“The conviction of Senator Joe Bruno is sad and tragic for his family. Read More
ALBANY—There might be movement on legislation restructuring the notoriously porous ethics enforcement in Albany.
“My understanding is we’re actually looking at a new bill that has elements from all of the different passages that have actually been presented and as I said before I think that is a positive development,” said Susan Lerner, the executive Read More
