Paladino calls for eliminating pensions for lawmakers

Paladino said he would seek to eliminate all pensions for new state legislators, require all legislators to disclose the source of their outside income and outlaw the practice of steering discretionary member-item funds to family members.

Paladino has famously pledged to take "a baseball bat" to state lawmakers to force them to cooperate with his plans to cut state taxes and spending.

"Taxpayers will know what all legislators make and how they earn it in a Paladino administration," he says in a new policy statement.

He also has promised to appoint a special prosecutor with subpoena power and enlist the State Police to investigate conflicts in state government.

Paladino says the impetus for one of his most controversial accusations - calling Silver a "criminal" during questioning at a Crain's breakfast in Manhattan - stemmed in part from his frustration that Silver is not required to report what he earns from the big Manhattan personal injury law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, where he is a partner.

Paladino also is proposing eight-year term limits for state lawmakers, which he said would diffuse some of the political power of the Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader. To accomplish this, he proposes a "people's constitutional convention . . . free of lobbyists and politicians."

Paladino has also pledged to conduct budget negotiations in full view of the Albany press corps and shut down state government, except for police and public health agencies, if lawmakers do not pass a state budget by the annual April 1 deadline.