New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Wednesday a set of Ethics reforms that would affect the State Legislature, the State University of New York, the City University of New York, and his own office, all of which have been soiled within the last year by corruption scandals and allegations of slipshod management.
Cuomo announced that he would appoint a Procurement officer to review all contracts and agreements involving State funds “with an eye towards eliminating any wrongdoing, conflicts of interest or collusion,” a clear nod to the revelation this fall that three of his former aides and advisers had orchestrated a years-long bribery and bid-rigging scheme in which lucrative State Economic Development contracts were steered to a few favored developers. All three, along with several Development Executives, have pleaded not guilty to Federal corruption charges.
The developers accused in the corruption scheme doubled as generous donors to Cuomo’s 2014 Re-Election Campaign, holding fund-raisers for him even as they were bidding for Economic Development projects. Cuomo said he would order his 2018 Re-Election Campaign and the State Democratic Party to refuse contributions from companies vying for State-funded projects, a ban that would apply to winning bidders for six months after contracts had been awarded.
“I believe this public trust and integrity issue must be addressed — directly and forthrightly,” Mr. Cuomo said in the statement, framing his call for reform as a response to a public clearly disgusted with Government as usual. “It is time for action, not words.”
He made no direct mention of the scandal, which centered on Mr. Cuomo’s former top aide and close friend, Joseph Percoco. The Governor’s announcement, which unusually for Cuomo, arrived in the form of a long, conversational first-person statement instead of a formal news release, offered only an oblique acknowledgment of the stain on his inner circle. “People will commit venal and greedy acts,” he said. “I have seen it myself, and I have been shocked and hurt by it.”
When it comes to New York’s two Public University systems, however, the Governor has seldom missed an opportunity this year to call attention to their mismanagement and inefficiency. On Wednesday, after the State Inspector General released a report on Tuesday declaring that lapses by CUNY officials created a system “ripe for abuse,” Cuomo went a step further, directing the University’s Board to review the institution’s Senior Management and the Inspector General’s findings within 30 days. Cuomo will appoint Inspectors General for both CUNY and SUNY.
A day after allies of Cuomo blocked Legislators from getting a pay raise, saying that they would not agree to an increase until the Legislature passed long-awaited Ethics reforms, including limitations on the income that State Lawmakers earn from jobs outside the Legislature, Cuomo followed up with several proposals for reform directed at State Legislators and Local officials. The proposed measures included Campaign Finance reform, a cap on outside income at 15% of Lawmakers’ annual salary, the authorization of a State Ethics Board to investigate conflicts of interest in Local Governments and a requirement that all Elected officials disclose all sources of income.
Most of the ideas were resurrected from previous attempts at Ethics reform. Cuomo called for a cap on outside income this year, but made little progress with the Republican-controlled State Senate.
But Cuomo’s reluctance to sign off on a raise for the Legislature at a meeting on Tuesday of a Commission charged with studying the salary issue may complicate any effort to pass meaningful Ethics reform in the upcoming 2017 session.
Neither Carl Heastie, the Bronx Democrat who serves as Assembly Speaker, nor John J. Flanagan, the Senate’s Republican Majority leader, have seemed especially enthusiastic about the Governor’s proposals.
Michael Whyland, Heastie’s spokesman, noted on Wednesday that the Assembly had already passed several Ethics reforms. “We will work with anyone who is serious about restoring New Yorkers’ faith in their government,” he said.
As they absorbed Cuomo’s latest stab at Ethics reform, Good Government groups sounded weary of promises that have been offered year after year, only to stagnate by session’s end. “Even his own administration has not been without corruption allegations and lived up to the principles he espouses so well,” said Dick Dadey, Executive Director of one such group, Citizens Union. “He needs to focus seriously on preventing corruption. He needs to be willing to take stronger actions to enact laws that accomplish that goal.”
Blair Horner, Executive Director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said the Governor’s idea for a Procurement Officer appeared likely to duplicate the role of the State Comptroller, who already reviews all State contracts, but whose power to examine the kinds of development contracts at the heart of the bribery scandal was diminished by the Legislature in 2011.
The Governor’s office already has a prototype for a Procurement officer position in Bart Schwartz, a former Prosecutor who was hired to lead an internal investigation into contracting practices and lobbying as the scandal grew. But the parameters of the job were not yet clear: Aides to the Governor were still exploring whether the new Procurement officer would have the authority to review money distributed by Public Authorities that operate outside of the State’s Division of the Budget.
A spokeswoman for Thomas DiNapoli, the State Comptroller, was also unclear about how redundant the position might be. “We are reviewing the governor’s proposals and look forward to seeing more specifics when they are available,” said the spokeswoman, Jennifer Freeman.
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