Liberals have attacked Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the Legislature's failure to enact enhanced disclosure of legislators' outside income and a new public campaign financing system.
Remarkably, the governor's success in securing unexpected victories on liberal policy issues has fostered the idea that, if he is unsuccessful in securing another legislative victory, it must be because he never really tried to achieve it. In reality, these latest reforms have not yet become law because the Legislature does not want them to pass. Period.
These reforms will pass in the next decade, I believe, thanks largely to Cuomo having made them a priority and building the momentum that Albany always requires before major reforms. In the meantime, let's look at some of the significant reforms in government ethics that the governor has achieved, despite vehement opposition by the Legislature:
In 2011, Cuomo created the first ethics agency that oversees both the Legislature and the executive branch but is not controlled by either. Unheard of in Albany to that point, that agency issued an investigative report containing findings that a sitting assemblyman had engaged in serious misconduct and that the Assembly had failed to address it adequately. It is hard to recall now the days when legislators could act without any meaningful ethics oversight.
Until 2011, the law discouraged legislators from disclosing outside business activities. Now, the law requires them to disclose on the Internet all of their clients doing business with or before state agencies, whether the legislator is working for that client or simply obtained a referral from elsewhere.
Also since 2011, registered lobbyists and their clients who have a business relationship with a state official must for the first time disclose that relationship publicly.
Since 2012, lobbyists and their clients must now disclose publicly the sources of their funding so that the public can know who is paying for the lobbying and the ads that influence legislation in Albany.
Before 2011, the public had no view of the murky world of independent election expenditures — where attack ads masquerade as issue ads. This year, Cuomo required the prompt disclosure of who pays for ads that don't mention a candidate by name but whose purpose is to endorse or attack a candidate.
This year, Cuomo required legislators to disclose publicly the direct referral of clients by registered lobbyists and the fees paid to their outside firms. This will shine light on legislators who receive compensation indirectly via referrals to their firms.
This year, Cuomo obtained critical improvements to the state's bribery and corruption laws to make it easier to prosecute Albany corruption.
In November, voters will be able to approve a constitutional amendment that will require district lines to be drawn by an independent, bipartisan commission and at least three members who were not appointed by the majority conferences in either house must approve a plan before the Legislature votes on it, a key barrier to partisan gerrymandering. If approved, the constitution will require that "districts shall not be drawn to discourage competition or for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candidates or political parties" — language that will allow courts to strike down gerrymandered districts. New language will also protect voting rights for communities of color.
While Cuomo keeps fighting for more reforms, let's remember that reform never happens overnight in Albany, or where the advocates of reform mistake their champion for their real opponents.
Jeremy M. Creelan is former special counsel to Governor Cuomo. He is in private practice.