Gotham Gazette

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Ethics Reform

Ethics Reform

  • New York’s New State Government Ethics and Lobbying Oversight Body Takes Shape

    The Capitol in Albany (photo: Darren McGee/Governor's Office)


    New York’s newest state government ethics commission, set to replace the infamously dysfunctional Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), will soon take its first steps when its members are approved by a committee of law school deans. That could take place beginning as soon as this month.

    Nine out of 11 nominees to the new Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (CELG) have been formally named by New York's statewide elected officials and legislative

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  • Long Overdue Reforms and the Road to Instilling Public Faith in New York Government

    A push to increase faith in government (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


    Of all the pressing problems facing New York City — increasing crime, economic stagnation, high taxes, rising homelessness, crumbling infrastructure, and poor sanitation — a fundamental issue is at the core: lack of faith in our government and institutions to address and solve these  issues.  

    Trust has been broken because government appears corrupt, indecipherable, and motivated to  benefit special interests, insiders, and their allies. New

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  • State Budget Roundup: Ethics, Transparency, Spending Accountability, Campaign Finance, and Voting

    Gov. Hochul signs orders (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of the Governor)


    Good government groups and reform-minded officials have for years called for New York State’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) to be scrapped and replaced with more independence from the elected officials it is meant to regulate. But since the details of a deal to replace the troubled commission began to emerge last month, reformers have raised alarms that the new body would hardly be better than the old.

    A new state ethics commission is one of several measures related to government ethics and

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  • In the 'New Albany,' State Senate Regularly Outpaces Assembly on Reform

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    The New York State Senate (photo: NY Senate Media Services)


    For years the Democratic majority of the New York State Assembly advanced bills its members knew the Republican-controlled State Senate wouldn't pass. Still other legislation, especially related to government ethics, transparency, and elections, stewed on the backburner with neither majority moving it forward. Those were the days of two-party rule in Albany, of a group of breakaway Democrats who buoyed Republicans, and a governor happy to straddle the middle.

    Since

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  • Major State Ethics and Governance Reforms Hoped for Under Hochul

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    Then-Gov. Cuomo with current Gov. Hochul (photo: Governor's Office)


    With the abrupt end of the ten-year reign of Governor Andrew Cuomo, reformers inside and outside of state government are looking for change. Unspooling their wishlist has been a kind of inaugural red carpet for Governor Kathy Hochul, who took office last month after Cuomo resigned amid a flurry of scandal -- almost all connected, in some way, to government ethics, transparency, and the erosion of checks and balances.

    Hochul immediately pledged to take steps to undo Cuomo's

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  • Max Politics Podcast: A Government Reform Agenda for Governor Hochul

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    Gov. Hochul is sworn in (photo: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)


    September 01, 2021 - Max Politics Podcast: A Government Reform Agenda for Governor Hochul

    John Kaehny, executive director of government watchdog and reform group Reinvent Albany, joined the show to discuss what ethics, transparency, and other reforms Governor Kathy Hochul should prioritize as well as a number of other issues related to how state government works in New York.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter

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  • 'This Moment Calls For Immediate Change': State Senate Takes Aim at New York's Ethics Watchdog

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    State Senator Alessandra Biaggi (center) (Photo: NY Senate)


    Looking over the scandal-pocked landscape of Albany in the wake of former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, lawmakers in the State Senate set their sights this week on the dysfunctional Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the state’s ethics watchdog often criticized for its apparent lack of independence and bite.

    At a Senate ethics committee hearing Wednesday, senators on both sides of the aisle tore into JCOPE’s executive director, Judge Sanford Berland, over the rules and practices

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  • Candidates Eyeing Seats in Albany Should Sign Our Anti-Corruption Pledge

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    The State Senate (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)


    The presidential election will no doubt get most of the political ink between now and Election Day, November 3, but it’s important to remember that candidates for the state Legislature, including many incumbents and their challengers, are also on the ballot here in New York, the most politically corrupt state in the nation.

    Among the most critical powers

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  • Campaign Finance Reform is Good, Term Limits and Outside Income Cap Must Come Next

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    (photo: Governor's Office)


    If you have ever given money to a political candidate, you’ve probably received a follow-up email asking you to “rush $3 today to help us reach our goal” or “send in $10 now to show we’re here to win.” I’ve sent quite a few of these emails myself, and I don’t think I would’ve raised more money in a single filing period than any candidate for New York State Assembly ever has if I didn’t. But trust me when I tell you that sending these emails is the worst part of my job as a candidate.

    I’m running to unseat my local New York

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  • In State Budget, More on Voting, Little on Ethics, and Half-Baked Campaign Finance Reform

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    Gov. Cuomo (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/governor's office)


    The 2020 state budget agreement between Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature is one of the most consequential legislative packages to have passed in several years and enacts sweeping changes to the state’s criminal justice system, mass transit in New York City, voting laws, health care, environmental protections, and more. But government reform advocates are disappointed by what they see as half-measures on campaign finance reform and the exclusion of broader

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  • Cuomo's 2019 Agenda of Election, Campaign Finance and Government Ethics Reforms

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    (Photo via the Governor's office)


    Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a broad agenda of progressive legislation in his State of the State speech on Tuesday, accompanied by more detailed policy and budget books, including several measures aimed at improving New York’s democracy and increasing public trust in state government.

    Emboldened by full Democratic control of the State Senate and Assembly, after years of a split Legislature where Republicans controlled the upper chamber, Cuomo reiterated many of the proposals that he has repeatedly advanced in vain in

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  • Commission Recommends Pay Increases and Ethics Reforms for State Legislators

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    (Photo via Wiki Commons)


    Statewide elected officials, legislators and agency heads are slated to get pay raises next year following recommendations issued Thursday by a four-member panel that was created in this year’s state budget.

    The New York State Compensation Committee voted on Thursday to raise the salaries of legislators for the first time in nearly twenty years, as well as for the four statewide offices and for executive agency commissioners. The committee will publicly release a report and deliver it to Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State Legislature on Monday

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  • WATCH: Agenda 2019: Movement Expected on Reform, But What Will It Look Like?

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    (photo: @MNN59)


    This is part of AGENDA 2019, a joint Gotham Gazette-City Limits project
    Find the rest of the series here

    mnn59 agenda ep2As part of Agenda 2019, the project from Gotham Gazette and City Limits, hosts Ben Max and Jarrett Murphy were joined on Manhattan Neighborhood Network by State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, and Susan Lerner, executive

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  • Agenda 2019: High Hopes for Long-Awaited Reforms

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    Gov. Cuomo signs legislation (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    This is part of AGENDA 2019, a joint Gotham Gazette-City Limits project
    Find the rest of the series here

    The 2018 election cycle in New York laid bare the myriad failings of the state’s political system that advocates and reform-minded elected officials have long recognized. Several candidates, many in it for the first time, ran competitive races on the backs of small dollar donors while

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  • Furthering Split from Cuomo, Senate Passes Reform Bills

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    Senate Majority Leader Flanagan and colleagues (photo: @nysenate)


    The Republican-led New York State Senate, which for years had a collaborative working relationship with Governor Andrew Cuomo, passed a slew of government transparency and accountability bills on Wednesday that further highlighted the GOP majority’s recent split with the governor.

    The package of 11 bills, covering everything from campaign contributions to state contracting processes, made its way through the chamber and was sent for approval to the Assembly, which is controlled

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  • Molinaro Outlines Initial Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform Agenda

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    Marc Molinaro (photo: @marcmolinaro)


    When he formally launched his run for governor earlier this month, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said that “all New Yorkers are paying a corruption tax.” It is a tax, Molinaro explained, that is the result of both legal and illegal malfeasance, of wasteful, ineffective, and corrupt government. In his initial remarks that day, at events in Tivoli and Albany, and during multiple exchanges with journalists, Molinaro has outlined elements of a reform agenda that, he says, will help restore faith in government

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  • Reform Groups Launch 'Restore Public Trust' Campaign

    Cuomo Long Island flag

    (photo: The Governor's Office)


    New York’s leading government reform groups reacted to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2018 State of the State agenda on Thursday 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.

    Despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that Cuomo failed to pass any of the reforms he promised in the wake of the alleged bid-rigging schemes associated with his signature economic development programs, government ethics

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  • Focused on Fighting Trump, is Schneiderman Looking Away from Albany Reform?

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    AG Eric Schneiderman (photo: @Schneiderman)


    New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has quickly become one of President Donald Trump’s leading opponents, using the levers of his office to litigate against Trump’s policies, and has put New York at the forefront of efforts to resist the new Republican administration’s agenda.

    Speaking at a Tuesday breakfast event hosted by the Association For A Better New York (ABNY), Schneiderman, a second-term Democrat, discussed his role in the Trump era, which has made his focus

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  • Will Latest Indictment Give New Life to Ethics Reform in Albany? Don’t Bet On It

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    State Sen. Rob Ortt (photo: @SenatorOrtt)


    Corruption charges brought against a member of the state Senate Republican majority Wednesday have provided an opportunity for Democrats to jumpstart the seemingly dormant conversation on government ethics as state budget negotiations enter their final week.

    Senator Rob Ortt, of Niagara County, pleaded not guilty in Albany County Court Thursday morning, following his indictment on three felony counts of filing a false instrument, ...

  • Since State of the State, Cuomo Silent on Ethics Reform

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    Gov. Cuomo (photo: Governor's Office, flickr)


    For the second year in a row, in his January State of the State, Governor Andrew Cuomo laid out an ambitious ethics reform agenda that touched on a variety of issues and aimed at restoring public trust in New York State’s scandal-plagued government. But, also for a second year in a row, Cuomo has not followed up with any discernible public push to rally support for that

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  • One-House Budgets Show Little Indication Ethics, Voting & Campaign Finance Reforms Will Advance in Albany

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    Heastie, Cuomo, Flanagan (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    In one-house budgets passed this week, the state Legislature showed little evidence that new government ethics, voting, and campaign finance reform measures will be passed in Albany any time soon. This, despite persistent issues with public corruption, antiquated election laws, and the ongoing ability for wealthy interests to donate virtually unlimited sums to politicians.

    Through his January State of the State tour, 2017 policy book, and executive budget, Governor

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  • On Your November Ballot: Stripping Pensions from Corrupt Politicians

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    Sheldon Silver & others in 2011 (photo: The Governor's Office)


    This November, New York voters will get to decide whether state officials who are convicted of public corruption can be stripped of their pensions.

    A government ethics reform bill, jointly passed by the state Legislature Monday for a second time, amends the state constitution and allows the state to reduce or revoke the pension of a public officer that has been convicted of a crime related to his or her official duties.

    Under the measure, a public officer convicted of a crime

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  • Acknowledging Pervasive Corruption, Cuomo Releases 10-Point Government Ethics Agenda

    Cuomo State of the State Excelsior booklet

    Gov. Cuomo (photo: Governor's Office via flickr)


    Governor Andrew Cuomo concluded his three-day, six-stop State of the State tour in Albany Wednesday, though not at the State Capitol, where he and previous governors have typically held a single event. In contrast to previous addresses, most state legislators were not in attendance to hear the governor lay out his agenda for the year.

    Throughout the week, Cuomo released 35 proposals, many of them aimed at lifting the middle class, including tuition-free city and state college for

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  • Donald Trump, New York Corruption & A Loss of Faith in Institutions

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    The 2016 Al Smith Dinner


    Public trust in Washington began diminishing under President Lyndon Johnson over the course of the 1964 presidential election and the escalation of war in Vietnam. Watergate ushered in a new era of distrust in government in the United States as the country’s top elected office was compromised. By 1974, public trust in government dipped below 40 percent for the first time since such records had been kept. 

    As with

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  • It's Time for Wholesale Ethics Reform

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    Sen. Todd Kaminsky, the author (photo: @toddkaminsky)


    The headline is the same. The names are interchangeable.

    And yet, the laws and attitudes stay the same.

    The most recent indictment of Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano and Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto should serve as a wakeup call to elected officials and taxpayers alike. The corruption within our governments is pervasive and isn’t going anywhere until we implement comprehensive ethics reform. No one is above the law.

    Having put away both corrupt Democrats and Republicans as a former

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