State leaders quietly discuss ethics reform

ALBANY - Talks are under way with leaders of the state Senate and Assembly to come up with tougher ethics laws, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo confirmed Monday. But the discussions take a backseat to preparing Cuomo's state budget proposal, set to be unveiled next week, administration staff said.

"Talks are ongoing. Do we have an agreement yet? No," Cuomo said at a news conference after the swearing-in of new state Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav R. Shah.

In his State of the State address on Jan. 5, Cuomo promised to offer a plan for public financing of campaigns, require full disclosure of lawmakers' outside incomes, end "pay to play" practices and push for an independent commission to draw congressional and legislative districts. Such ideas have died in the Legislature many times under previous governors.

Cuomo Monday did not go into details of the talks or forecast their progress.

"Is this dramatic reform? Yes. Much more dramatic than where they were last year? Yes," Cuomo said, referring to negotiations under his predecessor, Gov. David A. Paterson. "Is dramatic reform hard to accept and hard to pass? Yes. And we're working through it."

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said legislative and executive staffs were hashing out ideas, but declined to go into detail. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) also confirmed the talks.

Notably, Cuomo also is talking to Senate Democrats. Even though they are in the minority, if all 30 Democrats support the governor's proposals, Cuomo would need to woo just two of the 32 Republicans to pass a bill. Generally, Democrats have been more supportive of independent redistricting and public financing of campaigns.

"The administration has been talking to my counsel with respect to ethics reform," said Senate Minority Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn). "This is something, as you know, a couple of weeks ago we rolled out our support of the Koch pledge, which talks about not only ethics reform but also fiscal reform and nonpartisan redistricting."

Sampson referred to former New York City Mayor Ed Koch's "New York Uprising" campaign, which advocates imposing tougher ethics laws and budgeting rules in state government and abolishing partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts.