Albany - In light of the ongoing investigation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's former confidante and campaign manager Joseph Percoco, the Green Party of New York again calls on the New York State Legislature to pass a comprehensive ethics and campaign finance reform package before the end of the 2016 session. Noting the endemic nature of corruption amongst state officials in New York and the frequent indictments brought by US Attorney Preet Bharara, Green Party officers stated that only a strong push to remove the legalized bribery of campaign donations and the lure of outside income for legislators would clean up the cesspool of corruption found in Albany.
"We know what will work to change the political culture in Albany: closing the LLC loophole, limiting outside income for legislators, strong disclosure and conflict-of-interest rules for income earned by lawmakers and senior staff, and a fully transparent budget process. While outside income for legislators should be limited to levels akin to those of Congress (15% of the highest salary paid to any sitting legislator), the party supports a full-time, year-round state legislature much like California's. Legislators should consider this their job, and during their terms should worry about people of New York State and not outside income. This would require far more than the 60 calendar days spent in Albany during the year," said Gloria Mattera, state party co-chair.
"Alongside this we need a system of full public campaign financing for candidates at the local, state and federal levels modeled on those of Maine and Arizona. The real impetus for corruption arises when campaign donors are able to influence government through the system of legalized bribery that is our campaign finance laws. Creating a system where candidates have no need to solicit those bribes in the first place would move us far closer to cleaning up Albany than any of the so-called reforms have done to this point," concluded Peter LaVenia, state party co-chair.
For Immediate Release
May 10, 2016
Green Party of New York
http://www.gpny.org/
Contact:
Gloria Mattera, 917-886-4538, [email protected]
Michael O'Neil, 917-825-3562, [email protected]