By Karen DeWitt
Senate Democrats, including Senator Liz Krueger of Manhattan, are calling for public hearings next month on several ethics reform proposals that they say need to be passed this session.
Krueger said the hearings would include constitutional authorities and other expert witnesses to discuss proposed bills requiring broader financial disclosure of lawmakers’ outside income, lawyer legislators to release the names of clients who do business with the state and those taking away pensions from lawmakers who are convicted of public corruption.
Many of these reform items, Krueger said, are the same things Governor Andrew Cuomo said he wants included in an ethics reform package that he will negotiate with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
“It fits in perfectly,” Krueger said.
