More On Make-Believe Ethics

Cuomo, Lawmakers Agree on Ethics Reform
The New York Law Journal by Joel Stashenko  -  June 6, 2011

Legislators who are attorneys will have to disclose their legal clients and those of their firms if those clients are doing business with the state, are involved in proceedings before state agencies or are seeking to get legislation passed under an agreement on ethics reforms announced Friday by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders.  The long-discussed bill, dubbed the Clean Up Albany Act of 2011, will create a new Joint Commission on Public Ethics to take the place of the Commission on Public Integrity, and give the new entity authority to punish corruption in both the executive and legislative branches and to regulate lobbyists. The public integrity commission has no power to investigate legislative misdeeds. The measure will also establish a new civil forfeiture proceeding in which the attorney general or local prosecutors can seek to strip the government pensions of officials convicted of felonies related to their public duties.

Mr. Cuomo, Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, jointly announced the agreement on the legislation. They said it would be adopted by the Legislature before lawmakers conclude their regular session later this month.  "This new measure will enhance transparency in our government and ensure both independent and fair enforcement of our ethics laws," Stephen P. Younger of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, the past president of the New York State Bar Association, said in the statement announcing the deal. The governor's office said that Mr. Younger was speaking for the state bar.  In a separate statement, the president of the New York City Bar, Samuel W. Seymour of Sullivan & Cromwell, also said he favored the ethics agreement. "We are particularly pleased that the legislation for the first time will require disclosure of legislators' clients, something we have argued is both necessary and fully in keeping with ethical responsibilities," he said. "While we would have preferred a still broader disclosure regime, this approach will provide meaningful information with which the public can examine legislators' outside activities in relation to what their responsibilities are to the people of this state."  A spokesman for the city bar said the group favored the disclosure of all clients of legislators or their firms, even those who have no dealings with the state. But a state bar task force named by Mr. Younger expressed skepticism about broad disclosure.  The new Joint Commission on Public Ethics would consist of 14 members, six appointed by the governor and eight by the four legislative leaders. The governor would appoint the chairman. The governor's control of the current commission—he appoints seven of 13 members—has rankled some legislators and advocates of ethics reform. Members of the new commission would be prohibited from donating to the campaigns of state lawmakers or executive officers during their terms on the panel. The new legislation will also require more complete financial disclosure of registered lobbyists and their dealings with clients with whom they do $1,000 or more of busines.