Message from Liz . . .
As the end of session approaches, movement toward resolution on key issues facing our state remains excruciatingly slow. Last month I talked about two of those issues - rent law renewal and marriage equality - and I will devote this message to yet another outstanding issue - ethics reform. Since the beginning of session, Governor Cuomo has been trumpeting this issue, and as more of my colleagues - and former colleagues - are indicted, convicted or sentenced, the need for stronger laws only grows clearer.
That said, I don't believe that better laws in and of themselves will ensure an end to malfeasance on the part of public officials. While most elected officials are driven by their commitment to public service, there always seems to be a few individuals who view, and take, their position in office as an opportunity for personal enrichment. But with stronger ethics laws we can make it easier to identify potential conflicts of interest and provide adequate enforcement mechanisms to discourage bad behavior, while also punishing those who continue to abuse their power.
Earlier this month, a deal was announced that will go a long way to addressing the most critical issues of ethics reform, and hopefully by the time you are reading this, ethics legislation will have passed and been signed into law.
Among the key provisions of the proposed legislation are:
·Strong disclosure requirements for elected officials' outside income, including disclosure by the official and his/her firm's outside clients and customers doing business with, receiving grants or contracts from, seeking legislation or resolutions from, or involved in cases or proceedings before the State as well as such clients brought to the firm by the public official. Lobbyists will also be required to disclose any business relationships with elected officials of $1,000 or more.
·Creation of a new database comprised of any individual or firm that appears in a representative capacity before any state governmental entity.
·Creation of The Joint Commission on Public Ethics, which will have jurisdiction over all elected state officials and their employees, both in the executive and legislative branches, as well as lobbyists. The new Commission will have 14 members with appointments split between the Governor and the legislature, where appointments must be equally distributed between Republicans and Democrats. No one who has been a lobbyist, legislator or statewide office-holder during the previous 3 years will be eligible to serve. This new Commission replaces both the Commission on Public Integrity and the Legislative Ethics Commission, which is made up of both legislators and appointees. The inherent problem with the previous model is that members of each committee are beholden to the very house that they are meant to monitor. So, by creating one investigative body, that is comprised of appointees from both branches, it ensures the entity is not dependent on any one appointing authority.
·A ban on pension benefits for any public official convicted of a crime associated with his/her duties, a problem I have long carried legislation to address. It is both outrageous and illogical that taxpayer dollars are used to pay those who have violated the public trust.
·Increased Penalties for Violations of Campaign Finance and Ethics Laws. The Act substantially increases penalties for violations of the filing requirements and contribution limits in the Election Law, and increases penalties for violations of the State's code of Ethics that prohibits conflicts of interest.
While there has been significant resistance at various points to inclusion of these items, the fact that it now appears this significant legislation will pass suggests that Governor Cuomo's threat to appoint a Moreland Commission to investigate the legislature worked in bringing all parties to the table. This is a real opportunity for meaningful reform and I am hopeful that passage of this legislation will be an important step both to cleaning up