The Independent View: NY IDC Relaunches Ethics and Campaign Finance Proposals

The New York State Senate’s five-member Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) has “relaunched” its campaign finance and ethics package two years after pitching the same package, and two weeks after a wiretap was played in Federal court that featured former Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos explaining to his son Adam the IDC’s usefulness in keeping Republicans in control of the chamber.

The IDC has also proposed a ban on outside income, “with IDC Leader Jeff Klein leading by example and forgoing outside work,” according to the conference’s press release.

The Senate’s Republican majority, which the IDC continues to partner with as part of the chamber’s Majority Coalition, remains adamantly opposed to an outside income ban.

The Integrity in Elections Act would cap individual donations, ban corporate contributions including those from limited liability companies, and ban fund transfers between political party committees and candidate committees.

The Senate GOP opposes all of those changes.

Here’s more from the release, which does not include a quote from IDC member Tony Avella, who was an early witness at the Skelos trial and did not add his name to the IDC’s brief and valedictory statement in response to the release of the Skelos wiretap:

“In 2013, I worked with my fellow IDC members to propose extensive legislation establishing limits on individual campaign donations and a ban on corporate contributions, among other pieces. Earlier this year, I was proud to stand with Senator Klein and support the call for a ban on outside income, which would bring with it a number of other income reforms. Action on these issues is long-overdue, and it is high time that the legislature accept what the IDC already knows – we need these reforms immediately, so that we can start rebuilding public trust immediately,” said Senator Diane Savino (D-Staten Island, Brooklyn).

“We need to change the status quo of how Albany functions. New Yorkers deserve representatives who tirelessly advocate for their needs, not the needs of special interest groups and those who use money to influence the political process for their own benefit. Joining my fellow members of the Independent Democratic Conference, I urge my colleagues in the legislature enact a ban on outside income and other commonsense reforms this upcoming session. Reforming the New York State Legislature will not be easy; however, it must be done to win back the public’s trust,” said Senator David Carlucci (D-Rockland/Westchester)

“As we head into the next legislative session, the public needs to know that it can trust its elected officials, now more than ever. That is why I, along with my fellow IDC members, have worked to rebuild the public trust by proposing campaign finance and ethics reforms. As we started in 2013, with the “Integrity in Elections Act”, and have continued since with our proposed ban on outside income, I look forward to continuing to work with my conference members and the rest of my colleagues in the legislature, to finally pass what our state has needed for so long,” said Senator David Valesky (D-Oneida).

In addition to the “Integrity in Elections Act”, earlier this year, the IDC pioneered a proposal to ban outside income, in addition to a number of other income and financial interest reforms. The bill would prohibit all outside earned income, create a blind trust for legislators’ assets in order to sidestep any conflict of interest based on financial interests, and close the financial disclosure loophole by requiring legislators to file an annual statement for any full or partial calendar year that a legislator served, allowing the public to review financial information for a legislator’s final year in office.