Statement By Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos
February 9, 2010
(NewYork,N.Y.)-Rather than use the Governor’s veto of an ethics reform bill as an opportunity to publicly negotiate a better, stronger measure, Legislative Democrats tried to ram through an override so a weaker bill they settled for in secret, would be enacted into law.
As new ethics reform proposals are put forward, we should proceed with negotiations in an effort to improve a bill that so many say falls short of the mark. Every newspaper in the state weighed in against overriding the Governor’s veto and called for negotiations to produce a better bill. Good government groups, such as Common Cause, have had a similar response and the New York City Bar Association has also called for improvements that should be included.
Last week, Governor Paterson reached out to Democrats and Republicans and called for a meeting to negotiate a better ethics bill. As far as I am aware, I am the only legislative leader that accepted his invitation.
No one advocated for this bill to be rushed into law by an override, other than Democrats in the Senate and Assembly. Especially when Governor Paterson has introduced a new ethics reform bill and the original bill’s sponsor, Senator Schneiderman, says he is also introducing a new ethics reform plan.
Senate Republicans attempted to improve the ethics reform bill by offering three amendments, all of which were rejected by the Senate Democrats.
Throughout the process, Democrats have said the vetoed bill was the best they could do. While that bill was a first step towards reform, we owe it to the people to use this opportunity to do even better.
Posted by News LI Editor · Filed Under Politics
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