Ethics and Campaign Finance Update

As we approach the last few weeks of the legislative session, there continues to be a great deal of activity relating to ethics reform and campaign finance reform.

Here are some articles of interest from the last few days:

As campaign finance reform advocates rallied  in Albany today, YNN asks whether there enough time left in the 2013 session to enact a public financing law. A key member of the Senate Majority Coalition thinks that it may not happen.

State Senator Joe Robach has proposed a bill (S.5601) that would limit how much candidates for the state Legislature could spend on campaigns.  He proposed limiting Assembly candidates to $150,000 in spending and Senate candidates to $300,000 in spending as an alternative to publicly financed campaigns. But the U.S. Supreme Court has held that states may not impose mandatory limitations on campaign expenditures.

Citizens Union has come out with four recommendations to change the voting structure and improve the transparency of JCOPE.

Gotham Gazette asks whether there is a culture of sexual harassment in Albany, while the executive director of Common Cause NY thinks there is plenty of blame to go around.