Contact: Michael Fraser, (518) 455-3751
"Serious efforts to address public corruption must be permanent. We need more stringent laws, tougher penalties and meaningful reforms that foster immediate and lasting change. The Moreland Commission might do effective and important work - that remains to be seen. However, investigations have a beginning and an end. A task force by itself does not have the ability to implement the dramatic, permanent and necessary reforms we need to improve state government.
As the Moreland Commission begins to carry out its mission, Pedro Espada still receives his public pension. Vito Lopez is still eligible to run a taxpayer-funded political campaign. We already know where many of the problems are and we already have proposals in place to fix them.
I communicated to the Governor regarding anti-corruption ideas unanimously supported by the Assembly Minority Conference. Those measures were introduced in 'The Public Officers Accountability Act of 2013' (A.7393) but never advanced by the Majority Conference. The package calls for permanent reforms which include:
- Term limits for legislative leaders and committee chairs;
- Campaign finance and member-item reforms;
- Bans from state service for officials convicted of public corruption crimes; and
- Replacing the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) with a truly independent integrity panel.
The Assembly Majority failed to consider these stringent and sweeping anti-corruption measures this legislative session. However, our conference remains committed to providing New Yorkers with effective and broad new laws and regulations that directly address the issue of corruption by state officials. A Moreland Commission doesn't eliminate the need for legislation that establishes a permanent solution and restores the confidence of the people we represent."