Ken Lovett, Your Article is Yesterday’s News. Actually, it is News from 2009.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz

District 32 Bronx County, New York

Tel 718-991-3161

Ken Lovett, Your Article is Yesterday’s News. Actually, it is News from 2009.

You should know that the esteemed reporter for the New York Daily News, Mr. Ken Lovett has apparently joined those who are constantly ignoring my legislation and my positive work in the New York State Senate. Mr. Ken Lovett has an article in today’s edition (Monday, December 30, 2013) titled: NYS State Sen. Brad Hoylman Introduces Bill To Ban Outside Employment For Legislators.

My dear reader, most of the time, Mr. Lovett’s reporting is timely, accurate, on the cutting edge of politics, and frequently he breaks a story before anyone else in the business. However, in this instance, he is a little bit behind the times. He has been ignoring me. For the past four years, I have introduced a similar bill that also prohibits a member of the legislature from engaging in any outside paid activity during his or her term of office.

The article that Mr. Lovett wrote today regarding Senator Hoylman’s bill would lead you, the reader, to think that this is the first time that a bill banning outside employment for legislators has been introduced. With all due respect to Mr. Lovett, to my colleagues and to Senator Hoylman, this bill is nothing new.

The reason that this bill is nothing new is that on March 12, 2009 I introduced bill number S.3149 and since that time the bill has been re-introduced every year under the bill numbers S.284-A, 2011-2012 and S.384, 2013. If Mr. Lovett had done a bit of legislative research, perhaps he would have found my bill and discovered that Senator Hoylman’s bill was not a new idea after all. To all my Senate colleagues, I think it would be a show of good faith for you to join me as co-sponsors on my bill due to its longevity and the fact that I have sponsored this bill for more than four years.

I refuse to believe that a writer of Mr. Lovett’s reputation has now joined the crowd that continues to criticize me and ignores the good work I do in the New York State Senate. I challenge Mr. Lovett to check all the bills that I have introduced. He will find this bill and others that increase transparency and root out corruption.

Ladies and Gentlemen, don’t get me wrong. Any time that a legislator seeks to eliminate corruption and conflict of interest among elected officials, I am more than happy to congratulate that legislator. However, I am against legislators submitting bills that are already in the pipeline and that have been submitted by other legislators.

You should know that it is proper for me to let you know that in this instance we have both a bill and an article that really can be considered yesterday’s news. Actually it is news from 2009.

I am State Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.