Cuomo announces ethics reform in Albany

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a tentative state budget last Sunday night, including an ethics reform package that he and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie jointly proposed on March 18. The ethics deal, initially reached between the governor and Assembly Democrats, was approved by Senate Republicans as well, and is the latest step in the ongoing effort to clean up corruption in Albany.

Heastie’s predecessor, former Speaker Sheldon Silver, was recently arrested and charged with allegedly taking nearly $4 million in bribes and payoffs.

“This package of reforms is an important step forward for clean, transparent government at a critical moment, when New Yorkers are demanding a higher standard from their elected officials,” Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky, of Long Beach, said in a statement.

The freshman legislator is a former corruption prosecutor for the assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and pledged during his campaign last fall to bring more accountability to Albany.

“It could certainly be stronger,” he said of the ethics package, noting that the version passed by Senate Republicans includes some changes from the governor’s original version. “But this is a good bill.”

The agreement deals mostly with per diem reform and financial disclosure issues. It calls for public officials to disclose outside earned income of $5,000 or more — from whom they receive it, the services performed, and whether there is any connection to the state government, the office they hold or their public duties.

In the original version, willfully filing a false disclosure was treated as a misdemeanor offense. According to Kaminsky, that aspect was stripped from the final agreement. “I was disappointed to see that go,” he said.

He added that a previous lack of disclosure rules on what representatives did in their jobs outside Albany was a huge issue. Some officials were collecting per diems and travel expenses for trips they never took, Kaminsky said. A new electronic system will take effect next year, and verify the attendance of legislators in Albany and at official events to reduce per diem fraud.