Same old, same old.
How little really changes in Albany — regardless of the pomp and circumstance.
Last month, following multiple indictments of former Speaker Shelly Silver, the Assembly replaced him with Carl Heastie.
Last week, the new speaker joined Gov. Cuomo to announce a new day in the Legislature — with, in the governor’s words, the toughest ethics proposal in the country. He practically goaded the state Senate to adopt the same package.
Meanwhile, the governor and the two legislative chambers were still up to their old tricks. All three have opted to mark off millions of dollars in unitemized “lump sums” — open-ended slush funds, in essence.
A total of $2.6 billion in proposed lump sums are on the table in state budget talks — oodles and oodles of cash for the governor and the Legislature to play with outside of public view.
As is typical, the Assembly and Senate each want more than the hundreds of millions in dark money already outlined in the governor’s initial budget.
Silver, keep in mind, was indicted for abuse of the lump-sum process: He funnelled $500,000 to a cancer doctor who, in turn, allegedly sent business to Weitz & Luxenberg, Silver’s main law firm.
Corruption seeps in all across politics and government.
The reforms Cuomo and Heastie unveiled last week address one area — payments to public officials via their outside jobs. The two would require disclosure of “day job” income — and where it comes from. Lawyers would have to
disclose clients paying more than $5,000. The Senate wants that disclosure rule to extend to monies paid to spouses and domestic partners.
But spending the taxpayers’ money in secret is at least as big an opening for trouble. It lets officials funnel cash to friends and family — or political allies — without basic accountability.
That’s been the heart of multiple non-profit scandals over the years.
If Albany is serious about reform, the lump-sum scam must end.
Without real sunlight in the budget process — i.e., details on what spending is for — it’s just a matter of time before the next under-the-table outrage erupts.