ALBANY—Daniel Squadron is practicing what he's preaching.
He will unveil a bill today alongside Majority Leader Malcolm Smith which will require, among other things, that the categories describing income and asset holdings on required ethics disclosure forms be made public un-redacted; currently, the public can see who a legislator worked for, but not how much they made. (And even then, only a category would be available).
Squadron gave me a copy of his undredacted 2007 form yesterday (picture above). It shows, among other things, that he earned between $105,000 and $270,000 in interest and dividends from Madoff Investment Securities. He held more than $250,000 in assets with Madoff. (These Madoff connections have been reported before.)
The 2008 annual disclosure was due May 15, and should be released publicly soon by the Legislative Ethics Commission (which, incidentally, many people are calling on to be abolished). Squadron's filings will no doubt change in this regard.
Already, legislators have started to be asked what their outside incomes are. In the past, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver consistently refused to answer this question.
Minority Leader Dean Skelos was asked at an earlier reform-themed event if he would provide his disclosure form earlier.
"This is something that should be done by the entire legislature," he said. He seemed caught off guard, but said he would disclose it. It's not clear when. A spokesman said his answer was closest to "maybe."
