Groups Criticize Governor and Legislature For Ongoing Failure to Move Reforms

Reformers Criticize Albany’s Continuing Failure To Act Strongly Enough on Ethics Groups Say Governor Not Pushing Hard Enough, Assembly Majority’s Bill Too Weak, Senate Majority MIA in Responding To Albany’s Unprecedented Ethics Crisis

(Albany, NY) A coalition of civic organizations today criticized the apparent failure of Governor Cuomo and state lawmakers who have yet to agree on a package of comprehensive ethics reforms as the March 31 budget deadline nears. The Brennan Center, Citizens Union, the League of Women Voters, the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), and Reinvent Albany cited the unprecedented ethical scandals that have swept the former Assembly Speaker and former Senate Majority Leader from power, coupled with the dozens more that have been punished for misconduct, as evidence for action by New York’s political elite.

Despite nearly 90 percent of New Yorkers agreeing that ethics in state government is a problem, with two weeks to go until the end of the budget there appears to be little appetite for comprehensive action in Albany. The groups argued that the governor has done little to galvanize public support for his package of ethics reforms unveiled with great fanfare in his State of the State address and called the state Assembly Majority’s reform package good in areas such as eliminating the LLC loophole but does not fully address the issues associated with outside income to respond to the state’s ethical crisis.