NY ranked 36th in "integrity" study

New York gets a grade of "D" and is ranked 36th in a national study of states' government transparency and accountability.

The study was released as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the leaders of the Senate Republican and Assembly Democratic majorities are being criticized for secrecy in negotiating major policy deals last week, then quickly voting at night on the measures.

Asked about the report yesterday afternoon, Cuomo said he hadn't seen it.

The study by the Center for Public Integrity, Public Radio International and Global Integrity says states with toothless transparency and anti-corruption policies fared poorly.

The state doing the best? New Jersey.

Not a single state received an A in the State Integrity Investigation ranking.

"It's telling that no state received an overall grade of A," said Caitlin Ginley, a staff writer for the Center for Public Integrity and a project manager on the study. "In every state, there's room to improve the ethics laws, the level of transparency on government proceedings, the disclosure of information, and -- most importantly -- the oversight of these laws."

Only five states got rankings of B, led by New Jersey. It got a B-plus, with an overall score of 87 out of a possible 100.

Despite -- or perhaps because of -- recent corruption scandals, New Jersey got the top ranking because of steps it took to combat corruption, including tough ethics and anti-corruption laws it adopted in response.

Rounding out the top five states were: Connecticut (B, 86), Washington state (B-minus, 83), California (B-minus, 81) and Nebraska (B-minus, 80).