Crooked Hacks to Run for the Exits

Gov delivers 'robust' ethics reform
The New York Post by Fredric U. Dicker  -  June 4, 2011

ALBANY, NY — Gov. Cuomo and leaders of the scandal-scarred Legislature agreed on a sweeping ethics-reform package late yesterday that will at long last force lawmakers to publicly disclose their outside incomes and name clients they represent before the state.  The dramatic reform package -- called the "Clean Up Albany Act of 2011" -- creates an independent Joint Commission on Public Ethics with "robust enforcement powers" to investigate both the executive and legislative branches of government.  "This bill is the tough and aggressive approach we need. It provides for disclosure of outside income by lawmakers, creates a true independent monitor to investigate corruption, and spells out tough, new rules that lobbyists must follow," said Cuomo, who campaigned on a platform last fall that called for sweeping ethics reform.

CROOKED POLS WILL BE RUNNING FOR THE EXITS

Cuomo in the past has credited The Post for a series of exposes on corrupt practices in state government -- reports that helped build support for his calls for reform.  Until now, an embarrassingly weak Legislative Ethics Committee has overseen the conduct of state lawmakers, a long string of whom have been indicted and convicted of a wide range of crimes in recent years.  The new 14-member commission will oversee financial-disclosure requirements for state officials as well as regulate the state's $200 million-a-year lobbying activities.  Six commission members will be named by the Democratic governor with at least three coming from a "major political party" other than the governor's -- i.e., Republicans -- while the remaining eight will be named by the four leaders of the Legislature, with half being Democrats and half Republicans.  Insiders said the breakdown of the legislative appointees was a sticking point, as Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau) insisted on a strong GOP presence.  The new law will require the 212 members of the Legislature to disclose the dollar amount of their outside income within narrowly described "bands" that leave little to the imagination.  The law, which becomes fully effective when a new Legislature is seated in 2013, will require disclosure of the names of a lawmaker's clients and/or customers doing business with the state, as well as the clients of the lawmaker's own firm that may be doing such business.  Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) -- whose longtime involvement as a paid lawyer with a major personal-injury law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, has stirred the ire of reformers -- said the new law would "strengthen our citizens' faith in their government and hold accountable those who betray the public trust."