Assemblyman George Latimer (D-Westchester, 91st A.D.) spoke today about a series of legislative proposals, already introduced in the Assembly, that would improve Albany’s ethics immediately, proposed laws which he is co-sponsoring. “There are a number of us in the Assembly who are deeply committed to reform of our ethics – but at present, we lack support from enough other members to pass these bills,” Latimer noted.
Latimer continued, “People think no one in Albany ‘gets it’ – that is, the disgust by which people everywhere view the illegalities and shenanigans that have occurred here in both houses. In fact, a number of us have crafted important reforms that have not gotten proper media attention, and insufficient member support – and therefore haven’t passed into law. But these ideas deserve attention. Without public pressure, these changes won’t happen.”
Latimer highlighted four bills out of many that he is supporting:
A.1542 (Reilly) – Pension Forfeiture
Require the forfeiture of an elected officials’ public pension if they are convicted of a job-related felony
A.1543 (Reilly) – Campaign Funds Reform
Prohibits the use of campaign funds for personal use; tightens the laws relating to acceptable expenditures that may be paid from campaign funds
A.3377 (Rosenthal) – Allows for Primaries prior to Special Elections
Allows for candidate primaries prior to any special election to fill a vacancy in public offices; reduces the power of political bosses to control nominations
A.5279 (Gianaris) – Independent Redistricting Commission
Establishes a level-playing field for redistricting legislative seats after the U.S. Census held every 10 years
“We need a tough, independent ethics cop on-the-beat, reporting to neither the executive nor the legislature, to investigate and root out wrong-doing. We need to systematically monitor public and political spending to ensure proper behavior”, Latimer stated.
“The people will not stand for a continuation of the behavior that we’ve seen. “
