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Once Rife with Problems, City Budget Process Now a Model for State System in Need of Reform


cuomo exec budget pres 2014

Governor Cuomo presents his 2014-2015 Executive Budget


In 1975 New York City was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, having balanced its budget for years with massive borrowing and shady accounting tricks. Banks were at the point where they would lend no more. Mayor Abe Beame had written the announcement of the city's default. City lawyers were in State Supreme Court filing a petition for bankruptcy and police were prepared to serve the banks.

At the last minute bankruptcy was averted as the federal government provided the city with loans. Those loans combined with the state-created Financial Control Board, which required the city to use generally accepted accounting practices and provide four-year financial plans, are credited with turning things around.

Gone were the days when operating expenses were reclassified as capital investments, when labor costs were paid for with new loans, when raids on existing funds were acceptable ways to pay for new expenses. The city underwent such a turnaround in the following decades that its budget process is now thought to be a shining beacon across the country. The Financial Control Board that used to strike fear into the hearts of mayors is now a sleepy, almost forgotten entity.

The state government, however, is facing a crisis of its own--not a fiscal one, but a crisis of trust, brought on by a series of convictions of sitting legislators that was capped late last year by the convictions of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. For years, the Silver and Skelos served as two of the 'three men in a room' deciding the budget with the Governor. It's a process that has been decried by good government advocates, reform-minded legislators, and the U.S Attorney, Preet Bharara, who brought Silver and Skelos to justice for abusing their positions.

"I think people should start to talk about budget transparency as a matter of ethics," said Sen. Liz Krueger, the Democrats' ranking member on the state Senate finance committee. "People really should care about the lack of transparency in the state budget process for a whole lot of reasons. One of them is that if you don't know what's going on, pay-to-play wins the day. If someone wants something in the budget they get it there with a whole lot of lobbying money that no one knows about. That's the harm, that's the danger and I'll tell you that happens constantly."

A number of major corruption cases, including Silver's, have centered on the opaqueness of the budget process that allows legislators and the governor to put aside secret slush funds. For example, Silver was able to direct discretionary funding to a cancer doctor who in turn sent Silver and his law firm lucrative clients suffering from a rare form of cancer.

Former Sen. Malcolm Smith was convicted in a scheme whereby he would provide a developer a $500,000 lump sum from the budget. A report from good government group Citizens Union found that the 2014 and 2015 fiscal year budgets had over $3 billion in lump funds, while Cuomo's proposed 2016 budget had around $2.6 billion. Citizens Union, Common Cause NY, and NYPIRG have this year called on legislators to support reforms making budget spending more transparent.

"Preet Bharara, the federal prosecutor who convicted both Silver and Skelos, basically said the strongest tool these guys had to game the system was unbridled power and an unbelievable lack of transparency in policing 'three men in a room,'" said Assemblymember Jim Tedisco, a Republican from the Capital Region who has proposed a bill that would force any pot of cash negotiated in the budget to be line-itemed and mandate that it is publicly documented how the cash is eventually spent.

"The other thing Bharara told us is 'if you see something, say something,'" Tedisco said. "I didn't know about these pots of money and I'm sure my Democratic colleagues in the chamber didn't know either. So if you don't know who got the money, you can't stop what's going on. We just don't have that transparency holistically."

Slush funds aren't the only part of the state budget that thwart transparency. Today the bad practices New York City was forced to abandon are commonplace in the state budget process. The state budgets without generally accepted accounting practices, routinely raids other programs, has lump-sum appropriations where spending is at times decided by memorandum of understanding between the governor and legislators, and routinely pushes expenses down the road.

This year Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed a slew of major infrastructure projects including the revamp of Penn Station and a third track for the Long Island Rail Road, but his budget proposal does not lay out how to fund them. Meanwhile, his budget continues funneling cash to economic development projects that are managed by entities with little transparency. Cuomo's Buffalo Billion project is currently under investigation by Bharara's office.

Frank Mauro, executive director emeritus of the Fiscal Policy Institute, who also served as the director of research for the city's last major charter revision and as secretary of the Assembly's ways and means committee, said that the differences between the city and state budget processes are striking. "I don't think many people know just how different the city process is from the state's," said Mauro.

The city budget process begins when the Mayor submits his Preliminary Budget to the City Council before January 21 each year (this was just moved from Jan. 16). Then the City Council holds public hearings over a period of several weeks, bringing in agency commissioners and budget directors to examine spending, considers budget priorities from community boards and borough presidents, and takes testimony from groups and citizens.

The Council must issue its findings and recommendations by March 25. The Mayor then has until April 26 to propose an Executive Budget, with explanations of programs as well as a fiscal outlook for the city. The Council then holds another series of public hearings which are followed by negotiations between the mayor's budget office and the Council finance division. These negotiations must result in a balanced budget by the end of June, with the new fiscal year beginning July 1.

The Council is allowed to increase, decrease, add or omit any appropriation for personal services, or omit or change conditions related to any appropriation. The Council then votes on the budget. The mayor can veto any additions or increases the Council adds but may not interfere with any decreases.

The city process also includes a significant role for the Comptroller, who oversees city contracts and audits city agencies. The Comptroller is the city's chief financial watchdog and analyzes the Mayor's budget proposals, performing independent forecasting, raising red flags, and making recommendations.

"In the state budget you have to investigate where the money has gone, where certain programs are accounted for, and even then, good luck," said Sen. Krueger. "Even the [state] comptroller's office does not know until years later what was actually spent."

The state process begins when the Governor devises an Executive Budget based on the needs of agencies and any programs he or she supports and delivers the budget to the Legislature. Both houses of the the Legislature put out their own budgets, mainly to signal their major priorities for the year. The Governor delivers his executive budget along with appropriation, revenue and budget bills by February 1. The Legislature typically holds a series of budget hearings on particular topics, like transportation and local governments.

Under reform legislation passed in 2007, the Legislature is supposed to convene conference committees between both houses to reach agreements on aspects of the budget and set priorities. These committees have been ignored in the past despite the reform legislation.

The Governor and Legislature are also required agree on a revenue forecast on or before March 1. They are generally very good at doing this, failure to do so results in the state Comptroller setting the forecast. The Legislature can only reduce or entirely remove spending proposed by the Governor and it has no control over the Governor's proposals for spending. The Legislature can add spending, but the Governor has the ability to line-item veto. The Legislature must vote on a budget by April 1, which is the start of the state's fiscal year.

It isn't until the budget is voted on that a new financial plan is created showing how all the changes impact spending. So while a budget may start as balanced under the Governor's proposed plan, it rarely ends that way.

The state budget is usually full of non-budget policies because the budget process gives the Governor the upper hand - the Legislature can either negotiate the Governor's priorities, stall, or fail to vote on a budget on time, in which case the Governor can simply issue emergency extenders that put his budget into place.

Budgets are normally negotiated exclusively between the two majority leaders of the Legislature and the Governor, and time and again budget bills are not given the three-day waiting period for review mandated by law. Instead, the Governor issues messages of necessity that allow the budget bills to be voted on immediately. The result is legislators voting on voluminous budget bills late at night, having little or no time to actually read them. "To say there is any level of public review is just insulting," Krueger said.

"I think the biggest difference between the state and city budget processes is that the state budget is a political negotiation and you don't see a financial plan until a month later," said Tammy Gamerman, a senior research associate with the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC). "With the city they tell you how they are going to balance the budget."

Adding further mystery to the state budget, Governor Cuomo has taken to combining his State of the State address and Executive Budget presentation, doing so this year and last. This leads to less public explanation of the budget and more focus on big policy initiatives the governor is backing. In his speech last week, the governor laid out a number of government ethics proposals, including public financing of campaigns. He did not discuss changing the budget process.

The city budget process is not perfect, of course. The City Council continues to push the Mayor to more specifically account for agency spending, providing more units of appropriation instead of lump sums. There is also a good deal of discretionary spending available to the City Council Speaker that watchdogs want more accounting for.

Sen. Krueger, who is one of the most outspoken legislators during late night state budget votes, picking at and tracking spending threads while most legislators are waiting to simply cast a "yes" vote and get back to their districts, said that 'three men in a room' has led to an absolute lack of budget transparency and alienated the public.

Krueger says she has seen a decrease in attendance at budget hearings, even from groups that have a lot at stake in the budget. "At the end of the budget process each year, after I'm done beating my head against the wall over one thing that made it through the budget process or the other, I come to find out there are 16 other things I missed," Krueger told Gotham Gazette. "I don't catch a huge number of things and I do care about this. So imagine what it is like for someone who isn't a legislator, who doesn't have experience with this. I want people to know they should be involved in the process. They should come to hearings just to point out 'Hey, you know New York has state parks that need to be funded and that isn't in here.'"

Most rank-and-file legislators and advocates acknowledge that budget reform is not a hot topic at the moment. The last time there was major attention on the subject was in 2009 when Senate Democrats briefly controlled the chamber. They issued a report that recommended conference committees be given control over larger sums of budget funds, that the state adopt generally accepted accounting principles, a two-year budget cycle, and the creation of a legislative budget office.

Krueger has since introduced bills that would create a state agency in the model of the city's Independent Budget Office - a nonpartisan, publically funded agency that provides information to elected officials and the public about the budget, reviews budget proposals, and provides policy analysis. The bill has gone nowhere in the Senate.

Krueger and other reformers also want to see the state require bills to have truthful financial impact statements. Currently, bills introduced from rank-and-file legislators, committee chairs, legislative leaders, or the Governor are supposed to have impact statements, but some simply lack them while others are presented in a dishonest way. Rather than presenting a program's cost for a year, some bills only represent a month's cost, or less.

Gamerman said she feels that some progress has been made toward budget transparency over the last few years.

"Accountability issues born of the financial crisis of the '70s forced the city to use generally accepted accounting principles," said Gamerman. "There isn't any similar oversight of the state. The state has increased transparency through the Open Budget website. There is more info on agency spending. One of the big differences between the city and state is the city does a much better job tracking performance with the Mayor's Management Report. The state has been talking about doing something similar."

Mauro said that he finds it unlikely there will be a major push for reform unless the Legislature feels the Governor is abusing his current powers because the status quo still works for the leadership. "It's an unlikely scenario where the Governor isn't running roughshod over the Legislature with budget powers that we'll see a push for change," said Mauro.

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

Note: Gotham Gazette is an independent publication of Citizens Union Foundation, sister organization of Citizens Union.

Cuomo Outlines $144 Billion Budget


cuomo built to lead speech sots

Cuomo taking the podium for his State of the State


Gov. Andrew Cuomo's sixth State of the State address was a dichotomy of the mundane and the moving, the political and the personal, striking contrasts whereby he celebrated infrastructure projects and lamented the status of the poor, homeless, and jobless.

As much as Cuomo tried to steer the conversation toward past achievements and future successes he also decried the state's failures to boost the economy for all, house a growing homeless population, and provide low-income families with a liveable wage and benefits. Not to mention the ethical failures of corrupt politicians, which the governor had no choice but to address.

Cuomo's $143.6 billion budget presentation and State of the State focused heavily on both investing in major transportation and other infrastructure and a social agenda that includes an eventual $15 per hour minimum wage and a proposal to provide workers with 12 weeks of paid family leave.

The governor had clearly laid out the "Built" portion of his agenda in the days leading up to Wednesday's address. He's pledged $100 billion for infrastructure projects including a retooling of Penn Station, a third track for the Long Island Rail Road, and an expansion of the Javits Center - all under his New York: Built to Lead banner.

The MTA will also see an investment of $26.1 billion, some of which will go toward a redesign of 30 subway stations and more wifi hotspots. Both LaGuardia and JFK airports will get attention--with LaGuardia being replaced and JFK getting an "overhaul"--as will airports, roads, and bridges in other parts of the state.

"All experts are unanimous that investment today in the infrastructure of tomorrow creates jobs and builds economic strength," Cuomo said. "In Washington, both sides agree. However, like so many issues, Washington just can't get it done. In New York, we can and we will."

Republican Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said he was concerned by "all the spending" and wanted to see details on how Cuomo will pay for all of his infrastructure projects. "Where is all of this spending coming from? How are we paying for it? Well get those answers or we'll vote no," Kolb told Gotham Gazette.

The "Lead" segment of Cuomo's "Built to Lead" agenda had very much to do with backing up the governor's repeated assertion that New York is the progressive capital of the nation.

Cuomo returned to familiar territory by touting his record, including passage of marriage equality, as well as his being the governor to have closed the most prisons in the state and his various programs to reduce recidivism. "We are better at building and equipping a prison cell than a classroom. We are quicker to find a 16-year-old a jail cell than a job interview and that is just wrong," Cuomo said of the country. "New York State is going the other way."

Cuomo again asked the legislature to "Raise the Age" so that 16- and 17-year-olds aren't tried as adults. New York is one of only two states that continue the practice--North Carolina being the other. Cuomo took executive action last year to move the current population of teens from adult prisons to a juvenile facility, a move that is in process.

Cuomo pledged more job and alternative to incarceration programs, and "bail reform" that will require judges to consider whether a defendant is a danger to the public. New York is one of only four states that don't have judges consider public safety while setting bail.

"We all agree that public safety is paramount," Cuomo said. "But we can also all agree that it is madness to spend over $50,000 a year for a prison cell while ignoring the wisdom of early intervention."

Addressing another unresolved issue from last year, Cuomo asked the legislature to pass a bill establishing a special prosecutor to look into police killings of unarmed civilians. Last year Cuomo issued an executive order putting Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in charge of such cases. The move angered Republicans as well as district attorneys across the state.

"The appointment of an unbiased, qualified individual has helped restore trust in our system and it literally helped to end demonstrations in our streets," Cuomo said. "I urge you to pass a law making this reform permanent. Assemblyman Keith Wright has advocated for such a law for over a decade."

Cuomo's economic justice platform was imbued with a human touch that Cuomo has oftentimes been accused of lacking. His push for a $15 minimum wage, that is named in tribute to his father, who passed away last year, was greeted by cheers from the crowd. Both Republican legislative leaders remained seated while their Democratic counterparts rose from their chairs to applaud the measure.

Cuomo didn't offer any new details but his plan would see the minimum wage increase to $15 by the end of 2018 in New York City and July 1, 2021 in the rest of the state. Cuomo, who opposed a $13 minimum wage in the spring of last year argued vigorously for his plan. "If the minimum wage in the '70s had been indexed to the rate of inflation, you know where it would be? My proposal today at $15 an hour," Cuomo told the crowd. "What that means is that the minimum wage since the '70s has not kept pace. What that means is you've had 45 years of economic injustice where the poor were getting poorer, while everyone else was moving up. That's not America's way because that's not fair."

Cuomo went on to justify his plan because he said through social programs the state is subsidizing fast food restaurants that fail to provide a minimum wage, decrying such corporate welfare. "I say it's time to get out of the hamburger business," Cuomo said, repeating what has become a catchphrase during his minimum wage rallies.

Small business groups across the state are opposed to the measure and claim it will cost jobs. Meanwhile, more Democrats are growing concerned that Cuomo may significantly extend the wage phase-in to reach a deal with Senate Republicans.

Cuomo was expected to make a splash on the issue of homelessness and he did on two fronts. First he announced the commitment of $20 billion to combat homelessness, with $10 billion earmarked for 100,000 permanent affordable housing units and $10 billion for 6,000 new supported beds over 5 years, 1,000 emergency shelter beds, and other homeless services.

"This is New York. And we are New Yorkers and we will not allow people to dwell in the gutter like garbage," Cuomo said. He promised to fund 20,000 supportive housing units over the next 15 years.

Cuomo also unveiled a quality control system for homeless shelters across the state. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli will oversee the quality review of shelters, with city Comptroller Scott Stringer examining the city system, as he already does, but perhaps with more attention and now with more state collaboration.

"They will do onsite inspections and review operating and financial protocols," Cuomo explained. "Thereafter, shelters they find to be unsafe or dangerous will either immediately add local police protection – or they will be closed. Shelters which they find as unsanitary or otherwise unfit will be subject to contract cancellation, operator replacement, immediate remediation or closure. If an operator's management problem is systemic, a receiver will be appointed to run that system."

Mayor Bill de Blasio praised Cuomo for several announcements, including on supportive housing, pre-kindergarten and minimum wage. He said that Cuomo's announcements of the homelessness audits appeared to be in line with work already happening and did not express initial concern. He did express conern, though, about items Cuomo appeared to bury in budget documents that could cost the city big when it comes to Medicaid payments, CUNY funding, and certain tax rebates. De Blasio said he and his team would review the budget closely and have more to say soon. Budget watchdogs began sounding the alarm, though.

After outlining a variety of programs and proposals, Cuomo turned to government ethics, saying that all depended on public trust in elected officials.

Then, toward the end of his speech Cuomo dropped his rhetorical tone. He described how in late 2014 his father's health was failing and revealed that he was in Buffalo for an inauguration ceremony when he got the news that his father had passed away.

"Life is such a precious gift and I have kicked myself every day that I didn't spend more time with my father at that end period," Cuomo lamented. "I could have. I am lucky. I could have taken off work, I could have cut days in half, I could have spent more time with him. It was my mistake and a mistake I blame myself for every day. But there are many people in this state who do not have the choice. A parent is dying, a child is sick, they can't take off of work."

Cuomo went on to explain how the United States is one of three countries that does not have paid maternity leave. He proposed providing New Yorkers with 12 weeks of paid family leave. Last year Cuomo and legislative leaders were unable to reach a consensus on competing plans. The Assembly has repeatedly passed a plan that would expand the state's disability insurance fund to pay for leave. Last year the Independent Democratic Conference put forward a proposal that had the state covering the estimated $125 million cost of the plan. Cuomo's proposal would be covered by workers through a $1 paycheck deduction.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters that he wants to see more details on the plan. "Paid family leave is something we've passed for a while," Heastie told reporters. "I want to see the details. It's hard for me to comment before I've seen the details."

Senate Republicans are not particularly open to the plan.

"This is all about getting these things from proposal to reality now," said Sen. Mike Gianaris of the Senate Democrats. "You've gotta like the agenda, these are things the Senate Minority has been talking about all along--paid family leave, minimum wage. It's about getting these things done now. If Senate Republicans decide to block things that are priorities to the people of New York then they will hear from the voters."

[Read more about Cuomo's ethics and campaign finance reform proposals here]

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

Cuomo Unveils Ethics Plan to Questions of Follow Through


cuomo sots distance

Cuomo during his State of the State (photo via The Governor's Office)


To open Gov. Andrew Cuomo's sixth State of the State address Wednesday, a video began with a frightening picture of the "bad old days," when legislative dysfunction held the people's agenda hostage. Despite the avalanche of indictments that have taken place under Cuomo, including last year's arrest and conviction of two legislative leaders on federal corruption charges, the Cuomo Era was portrayed as only positive, leading into the governor's speech.

Toward the end of that speech, and at page 274 part 10 of his new policy book, Cuomo acknowledged what he called "a threshold issue that must be addressed." After having outlined a wide variety of policy proposals dealing with infrastructure, business development, and economic and social justice, Cuomo acknowledged said none of it would work if New Yorkers don't have faith in their government.

The governor then outlined a sweeping government ethics and campaign finance reform platform, setting a high bar for negotiations with the legislature and impressing some reform-minded good government groups and lawmakers. However, due to the history involved - both Cuomo's and the state legislature's - there are more than a few skeptics about prospects for success in enacting new measures to prevent corruption.

While some reformers applauded the governor's ambitious plan, many are waiting to see how well the governor does in moving his proposals through the legislature.

Citizens Union released a statement saying that "Cuomo stepped up in a big way and proposed important reforms that, if enacted, would help rebuild the public trust and protect New Yorkers against another crime wave of corruption in Albany." The group is among three that recently unveiled a "clean conscience pledge" for lawmakers to sign guaranteeing that they would fight for reforms like closing the LLC loophole.

In his speech, Cuomo tied effective government to ethical government, something Albany has not been able to do.

"We have proven competence, and we have proven we can make government work, but recent acts have undermined the public's trust in government," Cuomo said. "Public trust is essential for government to function at the level we need. I have a number of recommendations that will be in the budget that I believe will help restore the public trust."

LLC Loophole
Cuomo's first reform proposal, closing the LLC loophole, faces an uphill climb. For years, Cuomo himself has been the major beneficiary of the loophole, which allows companies to create shell entities through which to donate virtually unlimited amounts to candidates. In fact, Cuomo has taken more than a million dollars in donations from LLCs tied to just one company: Glenwood Management, the real estate firm at the center of the corruption trial of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and featured in that of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. Cuomo has refused to return money from Glenwood and denied that political donations influence him in any way.

Cuomo poses his argument for closing the LLC loophole in his briefing book as one of equity. "It is our responsibility to even the playing field so that rich and poor New Yorkers alike have their voices heard in our political process," it says.

Senate Republicans have shown no appetite for closing the LLC loophole, which Assembly Democrats still appear ready to do and Senate Democrats attempted to force to a vote last year.

Assemblymember Daniel O'Donnell, a Democrat, was skeptical of the Governor's proposal, not because he isn't in favor of closing the loophole, but because Cuomo continues to take contributions from LLCs. "He can't play both sides and take LLC donations and tell us to pass a law to stop them," said O'Donnell. "I don't take LLC donations, there will be a sign at my next fundraiser saying: 'I don't take LLC donations.'"

Outside Income
In perhaps the most bold reform proposal in his budget, Cuomo wants to limit lawmakers' outside pay to 15 percent of their base salary, which would match the rule for members of the U.S. Congress.

Blair Horner, of the New York Public Interest Research Group, hailed the proposal as an effective post-Watergate reform. However, legislators are keenly aware that Cuomo's proposal does not include a raise for them to make up for any lost outside income as many good government groups have recommended and that the restriction only applies to legislators, not the governor, attorney general, or comptroller.

"You can't keep telling us that you'll give us a raise down the road if we just pass this," O'Donnell told Gotham Gazette. There is a pay commission set to soon make recommendations, which could lead to raises for lawmakers.

Cuomo has not been above making outside income, of course. The governor's book deal with HarperCollins (a subsidiary of NewsCorp) is estimated to be worth at least $700,000. The International Business Times has documented how the state has pledged to give NewsCorp a one-time payment of $15 million in 2016 and access to $15 million in tax credits as part of a drive to make the company an "anchor tenant" at 2 World Trade Center.

FOIL
The governor wants everyone to be subject to the Freedom of Information Law - the legislature is currently exempt to FOIL rules. Cuomo's proposal appears to be driven by flack the governor received late last year after he vetoed two bills that were designed to make the FOIL appeals process faster and more affordable. The move came to the dismay of good government groups - the bills applied to the executive chamber, state agencies, as well as the comptroller, attorney general and local governments. At the time, the governor promised action in the new year.

"It is indefensible, especially in today's context for you to say you believe in the Freedom of Information Law and for you to sign bills reforming the Freedom of Information Law, but excluding yourself," Cuomo told the legislature during his speech Wednesday. "Let's make a statement to the citizens and taxpayers of this state that you get it. If you pass a FOIL bill, include yourselves. I will sign it the very same day."

Public Campaign Finance System
Cuomo has flirted with voluntary public campaign financing system before - his last push on it resulted in a pilot program that only applied to the 2014 comptroller's race (Cuomo isn't particularly friendly with Democratic incumbent Thomas DiNapoli) and only DiNapoli's opponent opted in, but he failed to raise the $200,000 minimum to qualify. The program was limited in scope due to pushback from Senate Republicans and they are showing no signs of having a new position.

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan made no mention of the program or campaign finance reform in general in his response to the governor's State of the State.

"If the governor is planning to do campaign finance with taxpayer funds we aren't going to stand for it," Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb told Gotham Gazette.

Good government groups hailed Cuomo's inclusion of public financing. "It's time to address the legal bribery that happens every day at the Capitol. It's time to change the system. Small donor matching is the only way to ensure that elected officials are putting voters before big donors," Karen Scharff of Citizen Action NY said in a statement. "A comprehensive approach to reform, like the Governor proposed, centered around public campaign finance, is the only way to restore public trust and restore democracy."

Pension Forfeiture
Both Silver and Skelos filed for sizeable pensions after being convicted on multiple federal counts of corruption last year. Beforehand, the heads of both legislative majorities came to a deal with Cuomo to strip pensions from legislators convicted of violating the public trust.

The Senate proceeded to pass a bill that would have stripped the pension from any public employee found guilty of a felony. But, facing pressure from public employee unions that worried their members would be targeted by the law after being convicted of crimes having nothing to do with their jobs, the Assembly stalled. Now Cuomo is attempting to get both sides to come to the table again. "This is nothing new," Kolb told Gotham Gazette. "We could have done this last year if (Assembly) Democrats hadn't stopped it."

O'Donnell said he was concerned about the impact the Senate's version of the bill could have had on workers and their families but he said he was more than happy to vote for a bill that "targets the right people."

The Rest
Cuomo also proposed a change in law that would force political consultants and those seeking state contracts to register as lobbyists. He also pledged to commit $1 million to fund a nonpartisan commission to help prepare for a constitutional convention where voters could have a chance to redraw New York's constitution. Cuomo has quietly supported a convention over the last few years.

Additionally, the governor outlined plans to make it easier to register to vote.

The Forecast
At the end of the day it appears that Senate Republicans are diametrically opposed to Cuomo's grandest ethics proposals. In an election year, which 2016 is, Senate Republicans may be moved to take some action, but it is unlikely they will move on Cuomo's version of outside income limits or public financing of elections.

Senate Republicans have run on their opposition to "using taxpayer dollars" for campaign finance and Flanagan has repeated that he believes lawmakers should hold outside jobs. Ethics were not a major part of Flanagan's rebuttal to Cuomo's speech.

"At the end of the day all the laws in the world won't prevent bad people from doing bad things," Flanagan said in a pretaped video. "We take this seriously and are already hard at work to restore the public trust," he said. "But we should not lose sight of what has already been done to improve the state's ethics and disclosure laws and to hold elected officials accountable for their actions."

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing



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