New York’s leading Government Reform Groups reacted to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2018 State of the State Agenda in Albany, holding a Press Conference to urge the Governor and Legislative Leaders to adopt a Package of Reforms to help Restore Public Confidence in State Government.
Citing the Six upcoming Corruption Trials of former High-Ranking Public Officials that begin this month, Representatives from New York Public Interest Group, Citizens Union, Reinvent Albany, Common Cause/NY, and League of Women Voters outlined specific Actions they believe must be taken to Prevent Corruption and Clean Up State Government.
“Last year we saw some movement on the clean contracting bill from the Comptroller, and on the database of deals, and the governor’s put forth his proposal on prohibiting vendors from making campaign contributions during the bidding process,” said Alex Camarda, of ReInvent Albany.
“Pay-to-play is a major issue in New York State because of lump sum appropriations in the budget and because of a lack of transparency in the procurement process,” said Jennifer Wilson of League of Women Voters. “In 2016, we learned that a lot of the RFPs in Buffalo Billion were people who gave huge donations to the governor. Other states have pay to play laws; we can’t allow that in New York State.”
Especially pointing to the former House Speaker Silver and former SEnate Leader Skelos sagas, the Civic groups are calling on Legislative Leaders to Act.
“LLCs loom large in the Skelos and Silver cases,” said NYPIRG Executive Director Blair Horner. “Glenwood Management pumped in more than $10 million into campaign contributions.” “The Senate has to be brought along; there’s no way around it,” Horner said, referring to the fact that Campaign Finance Reforms are more popular in the Democrat-led Assembly than the Republican-led Senate.
The Cases the groups mentioned are just the latest in a seemingly endless barrage of Corruption Scandals plaguing State and Local Government, earning New York its reputation as one of the most Corrupt States in the Nation. At least 33 Legislators have left Office since 2000 due to Corruption-Related issues.
Restore Public Trust Campaign
As presented by the groups, the Restore Public Trust Agenda, which they say will be the basis of a “Campaign,” includes:
- Clean Contracting. Basic Accountability Measures that would result in an Open, Ethical, and Efficient way to award Government Contracts Appropriations, an area which was identified as a key problem in the Indictments of the Governor’s Top aides.
- Real Budget Transparency. Make Lump-Sum Budget Appropriations and the resulting Expenditures fully Transparent.
- Ban “Pay to Play.” Strict “Pay to Play” Restrictions on State Vendors. The U.S. Attorney’s charges that $800m in State Contracts were Rigged to Benefit Campaign Contributors to the Governor underscores the need to strictly Limit Contributions from those seeking State Contracts.
-Close the “LLC Loophole.” Current practice allows essentially Unlimited Campaign Contributions via Limited Liability Companies. LLCs have been at the heart of some of Albany’s Largest Scandals. For example, Landlords and Builders can create a LLC for each building, then Contribute under each LLC, increasing their Contribution limits.
- Strict Limits on Outside Income. Real Limits on the Outside Income for Legislators and the Executive Branch. Moonlighting by Top Legislative Leaders and Top Members of the Executive Branch has triggered Indictments by the Federal Prosecutors.
- Effective Watchdogs. Truly Independent, Effective, Well-Resourced, Ethics Enforcement Agencies are needed (e.g. Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), New York State Board of Elections (SBOE), and Authorities Budget Office (ABO).
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment