By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — New York State officials outlined an ethics reform bill targeting corruption in Albany politics during a conference call Tuesday morning.
The “Reform Albany Act,” which Gov. David Paterson will officially announce during his State of the State address on Wednesday, includes legislation instituting term limits for state lawmakers and establishing an ethics oversight committee to monitor a new public campaign finance system.
A fact sheet sent out by the governor's office states that Paterson intends to "fundamentally change the culture of Albany" with the legislation, saying "the corrosive effects of outside influence and inside decay have bred cynicism and scorn from the people of New York."
Peter Kauffmann, the governor’s communications director and one of the call’s hosts, called ethics reform the governor’s “key that will unlock the ability to move into other areas,” including fiscal reform and “sensible budgeting.”
The administrators on the call said that the governor had not yet had any in depth discussion of the reform act with the State Senate or Assembly, who have been working together on their own ethics reform bill.
A spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the speaker could not comment until he had seen the legislation, but pointed out that the Assembly had passed an ethics bill during its last session. That bill, which was much narrower in scope than the governor's legislation, never made it to the senate floor.
The campaign finance law proposed in the “Reform Albany Act” is similar to New York City’s system. The state would provide matching funds to candidates for state office and limit the allowable contributions of lobbyists. The maximum campaign contribution would drop from nearly $56,000 to $1,000.
Donations to a party’s “housekeeping account” — a sort of catchall fund — like Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s $500,000 contribution to state Republicans in 2008, would be more strictly regulated.
Under the new laws state assemblymen and state senators would be subject to six two-year terms, a change that would require an amendment to New York’s constitution.
“I think people are fed up, it’s an election year,” said Secretary to the Governor Larry Schwartz. “They expect change.”
Former Mayor Ed Koch speculated on the governor's motives for touting the reforms, saying on NY1 Tuesday night that if Paterson wanted to win the 2010 election, "he has to establish himself as the reform candidate."
