A statement from Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo (R,C-New Suffolk)
(Long Island, NY) “With budget negotiations ongoing, we must work to restore the public’s trust and ensure that we eradicate the business-as-usual attitude that plagues Albany. We must implement preventative measures to keep the Legislature from making the same mistakes that resulted in two former legislative leaders being convicted of violating the public’s trust. To date, we’ve seen no mention of proper ethics reform measures as a component in this year’s budget. The budget must include term limits for legislative leaders and pension forfeiture for officials found guilty of corruption.
“U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has warned against holding closed door meetings to hammer out the details of a budget that is supposed to represent the entire state of New York – not the political interests of elected officials – yet this is still going on. If the Legislature is serious about cleaning up Albany, we must end practices like this; that’s what the people want. Enough with the three-men-in-a-room, we need total transparency.”
