Editorial Boards Call for Clean Contracting, Database of Deals, in Budget

With two days left to finalize the state’s budget, editorial boards are ​again​ amplifying ​the call by watchdogs for Governor Cuomo and the legislature to restore integrity to the state’s contracting process.

We call on the Governor and legislature, all of whom supported Clean Contracting in their preliminary budgets, ​to fully restore the Comptroller’s pre-audit authority and create a statutorily defined Database of Deals to make business subsidies transparent.

Daily Gazette
Editorial: Get corruption out of state contracts
March 29, 2019
Of all the legislation being bandied about as state lawmakers put the final touches in the $175 billion state budget this weekend, one package of bills could not only save taxpayers millions each year, but also improve government transparency and take a major bite out of the fraud, corruption and influence-peddling that pervades state government.

Before they sign off on this year’s spending plan, lawmakers need to pass the Database of Deals​ relating to government contracts, restore to the greatest degree possible the ​state comptroller’s authority to review state contracts ​prior to approval, and apply the state’s transparency laws to economic development entities and their board members.

Times Union
Editorial: A budget must-do list
March 27, 2019
The Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo should also take a key step to improving ethics and transparency by enacting “clean contracting” rules, including ​restoring the state comptroller’s authority to pre-audit contracts ​— including noncompetitive ones and those issued by quasi-state entities. They should also ban political contributions to the governor and political committees he or she controls by vendors and would-be vendors with state agencies, and create a “​database of deals​” that would provide the public with information on all state contracts.