Kellner Introduces Major Anti-Corruption Legislation
May 4, 2010
There has scarcely been a month since I first came to Albany where we have not seen a scandal involving a public official abusing the public trust for his or her own gain. This seemingly never-ending tide of graft and corruption reinforces the perception that all lawmakers are crooks or clowns. Unless the legislature faces its responsibility to close loopholes that allow this entrenched, unethical behavior to continue, we will deserve every ounce of scorn and distrust.
This is why I am proud to be the Assembly sponsor of the Public Corruption Prevention and Enforcement Act, a major reform that will strengthen New York’s anti-corruption laws (the New York Times reported on the bill here). This wide-ranging legislation closes loopholes in current state law that prevent the prosecution of corrupt schemes, adds tougher rules for member item grants, implements stronger campaign finance and financial disclosure measures, and fixes an apparent loophole in the Election Law. The bill has been introduced in the State Senate by Senator Eric Schneiderman, and was drafted in co-operation with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
The Public Corruption Prevention and Enforcement Act includes a host of measures to ensure that lawmakers are working for the public and not for their own personal benefit: it enacts a duty of faithful public service, punishes corrupt schemes to defraud the government, reforms criminal bribery statutes, creates new standards and prohibitions for community projects grants (commonly known as “member items”), enhances financial disclosure for state officials to prevent even the possibility of corrupt activities, and strengthens campaign finance rules to prevent loans intended for campaign use from being disguised as personal gifts (fixing a perceived loophole that recently led to the acquittal after trial of a public official in Manhattan).
It is time that lawmakers work to enrich the lives of their constituents instead of their own wallets. This is 2010, not the Boss Tweed era, and our laws should soundly punish those who abuse the public trust.
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