Ethics Reform in the News – Weekly Round-Up

The debate over ethics reform is heating in the Capitol.

Governor Cuomo has not formally delivered a bill to the Legislature, but behind-the-scenes conversations have reportedly been going on for some time.

Here is a quick re-cap of media coverage:

Saturday, February 19th

Newsday (behind a pay-wall, unfortunately) discusses the outside employment of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

Friday, February 18th

Gannett reports on Governor Cuomo’s insistence on an independent ethics commission and better disclosure of outside income by legislators in a radio interview:

“There are two issues on this front: it’s disclosure and it’s an independent commission to do the policing because self-policing is an oxymoron.

Monday, February 14th

Citizens Union of the City of New York reports that 17 of the 185 legislators who have left office since 1999 have done so because of ethical misconduct or criminal charges. CU Executive Director Dick Dadey called it “a crime wave of ethical misconduct” in Albany.

Senate Democrats called for various reform measures, including one that would establish an independent commission on governmental ethics and another that would increase financial and client disclosure requirements.

Saturday, February 12th

The New York Times reminds Governor Cuomo of his campaign promise to reform Albany.