Valesky Says Ethics Reform Won’t Be a Problem for Budget

Dan Clark on February 6, 2015 at 4:51 pm

Senator Dave Valesky said, Friday, he doesn’t think ethics legislation will hold up an on-time, fiscally responsible state budget.

Governor Cuomo said during a talk at NYU Law School Monday that he wouldn’t approve a budget without significant ethics reform. That package of bills would focus on disclosure of outside income for lawmakers, client information, and campaign finance reforms.

The package would be a large hurdle for Albany, with remnants of the latest corruption scandal still circling the halls of the state capitol.

But Valesky says he doesn’t see any trouble.

“I firmly believe that it won’t come to that,” Valesky said in an interview. “We have had – between Governor Cuomo and the legislature – four years now of a cooperative governing structure that has led to on-time budgets, fiscally responsible budgets. I don’t see any reason why that’s going to change this year. So I’m confident that we’ll have a significant ethics package included in a final budget that gets done by March 31st.”

One way for lawmakers to avoid any troubles with outside income would be to eliminate it altogether by creating a full-time legislature. When asked if he would support such a move, Valesky did not give a clear answer.

“I think the time has long since come that we need have that discussion on both points: Whether it be a full-time legislature with no outside income similar to what Congress did a number of years ago. My understanding is no other state has taken that step, but that’s not to indicate that we shouldn’t have that conversation here in New York State.”

The budget is due at the start of the state’s next fiscal year: April 1st. But even if ethics reform slides the spending plan past its due date, Cuomo says it would be worth it.

“It is more important to me to prove we have corrected the problem and restored the trust, than just check another box,” Cuomo said earlier this week.

http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2015/02/valesky-says-ethics-reform-wont-be-a-problem-for-budget/