State leaders have reached an agreement on an ethics reform package they say will clean up Albany.
Assembly and State Senate announced the legislation today.
The agreement includes separate boards for regulating lawmakers and their staff, the executive branch, and lobbyists. There are also increased powers for campaign finance reform regulators.
Lawmakers say the legislation is an unprecedented step towards more transparency.
“We are going to show New Yorkers that we are responsible, we understand what our commitment is. And most of all we want to restore the faith, the trust and the confidence back into the people of the state of New York,” said Senate Conference Leader John Sampson. “This is a significant step, a significant improvement, to moving ethics reform, to restore public confidence.”
Governor David Paterson is already criticizing the plan – saying it lacks uniform enforcement and was developed largely in secret by Democratic legislators.
(Source: NY1)
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4 Responses
the words “ethics” and “ny state govt” cannot be combined in the same sentence!
nys govt is built on out and out corruption, much of it legalized corruption!
To MiMedinat HaYam comment #1
That is true of the city and federal government as well as the state and city governments all accross the country.
How do you know when a politician is lying?
His (or her) lips are moving.
MiMedinat HaYam, you are a very wise person.
The first place if they want to deal with corruption is to set term limits for all elected officials. Then, they must bring the State Education Department under the full control of the governor and eliminate the Board of Regents. This would need an amendment to the State Constitution. In addition, they have to amend the charter so that the state is not obligated to help the poor. It may sound draconian or cruel but actually it would decrease the tax burden immensely on the individual tax payer and it would reduce everyone’s dependence on government. Then and only then will they be able to root out corruption.
But, don’t think that will happen in our lifetimes. What the governor did was only window dressing because he left all of the state apparatus of Tammany Hall (Democratic Party) intact. That is the real problem.
It amazes me that this legislature can come up with ethics reform and still have enough hidden loop-hole for each member to carry on business as usual.