Unethical culture is more like it at this point… Who’s the sheriff of each house? Silver and Bruno?

Editorials: Albany’s ethical culture

Editorials

Ethics reform came to Albany yesterday as Gov. Spitzer persuaded Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno - who had allowed the Capitol to operate like a Wild West saloon - to start cleaning up.

The leaders agreed, among other things, to ban freebies for pols, create a new watchdog agency, ratchet up penalties and, for the first time, expose members of the Legislature to some outside scrutiny. Each is a major step in the right direction, but there’s more to do.

Lawmakers still need to fully disclose their private business affairs, including any clients who do business with the state, and they must still tighten fund-raising laws to end Albany’s pay-to-play culture. And, crucially, Spitzer, Bruno and Silver must appoint hard-nosed ethics cops to enforce the new regs.

For too long, Albany pols have freely engaged in hanky-panky without consequences. Lax ethics laws let them accept free meals, Yankees tickets and Vegas junkets from special interests. Legislative aides zipped through the revolving door to become lobbyists overnight. Elected officials placed themselves in TV ads, campaigning on the taxpayers’ dime. And toothless see-no-evil enforcement agencies generally let them get away with it.

Not on Spitzer’s watch. No more freebies. No more junkets. No more politicians’ mugs in state ads. The revolving door will soon stop spinning. A new Commission on Public Integrity will police lobbyists and the ethics of executive branch officials. The Legislature will keep its own ethics committee but has agreed to allow outsiders to fill most of the seats. Both agencies will report to the public instead of operating in secrecy. Violators will pay fines up to $40,000, quadruple the old maximum.

Spitzer, Silver and Bruno negotiated the legislation largely in private. That was in keeping with the old Albany ways, and it’s the kind of practice that, too, must end. Now they should vet the terms in public hearings to expose any errors or loopholes before passing it into law. But pass it into law they must - as soon as reasonably possible.