Business as usual in Albany?

Posted 8/21/12

Now that former speaker of the New York Assembly, Sheldon Silver, lost that position because of allegations that he received some $4 million in bribes or kickbacks, and with reports that the majority …

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Business as usual in Albany?

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Now that former speaker of the New York Assembly, Sheldon Silver, lost that position because of allegations that he received some $4 million in bribes or kickbacks, and with reports that the majority leader of the New York State Senate, Dean Skelos, is also under investigation for corruption, this might be a time when some real reform in Albany is possible.

When there were still multiple candidates seeking to become speaker, some Assembly Democrats were pushing for reform. A group of 33 Democrats, including Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, signed a letter to the likely candidates asking them to commit to reforms.

The letter asked the candidates to provide input and opinions on a number of issues. For instance, “Should the Assembly be more transparent? For example, should members know how decisions are made inside of conference? What role should members play in making decisions regarding committee assignments, agendas and staff allocations?”

Some of the questions indicate that leadership in the Assembly has a great deal of power, and regular members may feel they are locked out of the process. The letter asks the candidates, “How can members have a greater opportunity to weigh in on policy and budget decisions before legislative negotiations? How can we encourage a real and robust debate in committee meetings and on the floor?”

Democrats this week decided to unite behind Assemblyman Carl Heastie to become the next speaker, in a process that was done almost entirely behind closed doors and which that seemed to suggest business as usual is being practiced, although Heastie has said he wants to pursue some reforms.

In any case, the desire for reform seems to be widespread. On the Senate side, Sen. John Bonacic has laid out his thoughts on the matter in a video posting on his website. He has a couple of suggestions for reforms that he believes would help address the predicament of what he calls the “problem of legislators trying to get rich while serving in public office.”

He said that all outside income should be banned for legislators. He said legislators should be fairly paid with a “respectable wage, a livable wage” allowing them enough income to buy a house, raise a family and send their kids to school, “but none of them should be allowed to have outside income.”

The second reform he proposed was term limits for the speaker of the Assembly and the majority leader of the Senate. He noted that Speaker Silver had been in the position from more than 20 years, “so his web of influence and corruption could get deep, with long tentacles.” He said term limits should not apply to the rank and file, but in the case of the top positions they would help eliminate or at least diminish the possibility for corruption.

Three good-government groups, meanwhile, have called for reform of the existing ethics enforcement system. Common Cause NY, the League of Women Voters NY and the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) are promoting changes to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the Legislative Ethics Commission.

Among their proposals: “merging the two commissions into a single body, and banning elected officials from serving on it; full disclosure of outside business clients for all lawmakers, including lawyers; stricter oversight of lobbyists and new, much lower campaign contributions for lobbyists and those receiving government contracts; strict controls over the ‘personal use’ of campaign contributions, as well as a voluntary system of public financing of elections.”

New York State has long been known as a place where the really important decisions are made by “three men in a room” —the speaker, the Senate majority leader and the governor. Now one of those men has been charged with corruption and another is under investigation. It is clear that the proposals mentioned above should be given serious consideration by the elected officials in Albany, and business as usual should come to an end.

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