SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A small change to New York's ethics laws nearly five years ago played a part in helping federal prosecutors this week arrest Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on charges he used his political clout to collect and hide $4 million in bribes and kickbacks.

The Clean Up Albany Act in 2011 fell short in many ways. The public remains in the dark about exactly how much private income state legislators earn and exactly who they represent in private business. It gives lawmakers the power to decide whether to reveal any connection between their private work and official state business.

Like so many other ethics reform packages before and since, it was hailed as a solution to the Capitol's persistent corruption. Since 2003, 41 elected state lawmakers have faced criminal charges, sexual harassment allegations or other legal entanglements. Some continue to serve. Many officials facing possible legal investigations, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, use campaign donations to hire lawyers.

But that 2011 law did require, for the first time, that lawmakers publicly disclose income levels alongside a list of private employers.



"Those two together caused somebody to get very nervous," said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York and one of many long-time, vocal advocates for ethics reform in Albany.

The change shook a lawyer at a two-person firm in New York City, where Silver earned referral fees for no legal work, federal prosecutors say. It prompted the attorney in early 2012 to draw up paperwork clarifying Silver's involvement at the tiny law firm, where the speaker's income was $240,995 in 2011, according to the federal complaint.

The speaker and the law firm's client - a prominent New York City developer with plenty of business before the state - kept their relationship in the dark, the complaint alleges.

That worried attorney, at some point, began working with federal investigators and now has immunity, the complaint says.

"This is a real vindication in a sad way," said Lerner. "We are in such a lax situation, that any improvement has a positive impact."

This week, federal prosecutors charged that Silver earned nearly $700,000 over the last decade in exchange for no legal work from that little law firm. It's one of two schemes prosecutors say Silver concocted to silently collect $4 million in legal fees flowing through law firms with clients benefiting from legislation the speaker ushered into law.

A special agent stands next to a chart detailing the alleged real estate kickbacks received by New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver during a news conference by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015 in New York. Silver has been arrested on public corruption charges. He's accused of using his position as one of the state's most powerful politicians to obtain millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks masked as legitimate income. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

"Speaker Silver never did any legal work,"

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Thursday

. "He simply sat back and collected millions of dollars by cashing in on his public office and political influence."

Silver, 70, has denied any wrongdoing. He pleaded not guilty to five counts of corruption and mail fraud carrying the threat of 100 years of prison time. He was released on $200,000 bail.

All but two of the Assembly's 106 Democratic members are standing behind Silver. Neither Cuomo nor Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, has called on Silver, D-Manhattan, to resign.

If a single change in state law helped paint a clearer picture of the Assembly speaker for federal prosecutors, what would happen if lawmakers finally strengthen New York's weak ethic laws? Here's what two government watchdogs say:

More disclosure, less private-sector income



Even before Silver's arrest, Cuomo proposed tackling lawmakers' salaries, public and private. Now, serious talk about how to pay lawmakers is much more likely, government watchdogs said.

The New York State Legislature is officially a part-time body, meeting from January to June. Lawmakers are allowed to earn private income in addition to their $79,500 base pay, which hasn't changed in about 15 years.

Cuomo, a Democrat in his second term, wants lawmakers to reveal more details about their private-sector incomes and the clients or bosses who pay those salaries. He wants the state to pay lawmakers without side jobs a higher salary. In return, all lawmakers would likely get a pay raise through a newly created salary commission, which would set pay rates for all state elected officials.

It's a somewhat recycled idea. But lawmakers could face more public pressure to consider it after hearing the charges against Silver.

"The revelations around Silver's alleged actions make it more likely that something will happen on salary," said Blair Horner, of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Lerner's group wants the Legislature to go full-time and ban any outside income. There should be "no question that when you run for office, you will work only for the people. No outside shenanigans or temptations."

More disclosure of private earnings, in the meantime, would be an improvement, she said.

The LLC Loophole



New York law allows a business to donate a maximum of $41,100 to a gubernatorial candidate, $10,300 to someone running for state Senate, and $4,100 for Assembly.

If that same business has associated "limited liability companies," those LLCs can donate separately, even if those companies were formed for the sole purpose of making more campaign contributions.

It's loose laws like that that explain how Leonard Litwin has become the state's perennial largest political donor since 2005. Litwin isn't named in the Silver complaint, but Bharara said this week one of the developers who hired that two-person law firm was the state's largest political contributor.

The feds use Silver's attention to LLCs in making their case. At one point in late 2011, Silver called a lobbyist representing the developer. Silver wanted to clarify that he, as a private lawyer, was representing the spinoff LLCs and not the main developer, the complaint says. "There was nothing to worry about," the complaint says of Silver's attitude. It's the developer who has business before the state, not the LLCs.

The lobbyist was not convinced of the logic, the complaint shows.

Neither is Lerner. "Everybody knows the LLCs are controlled by the parent," she said. "It's a persistent mistake. It allows Silver to convince himself that there is no conflict of interest."

Cuomo has proposed closing this loophole in recent years. So far, lawmakers have rejected or ignored the idea.

This year, maybe, there's a chance, Horner said.

"I think what the governor has proposed instantly becomes the floor for ethics reform," he said.

A stronger NY ethics enforcer



The state's current ethics board was also born of the 2011 Clean Up Albany Act.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics is a 14-member panel appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. It does not have to adhere to public meetings laws or the state's Freedom of Information Law, Horner said. It often convenes and goes directly into executive session.

The Legislature has veto power over any investigation into - you guessed it - the Legislature.

"That's why the feds have to come in and do everything. Because the state's watchdogs are asleep," Horner said.

The state does need its own ethics cop, Horner added, because the federal prosecutors can't enforce state laws. "Someone has to enforce state law," he said.



The Associated Press contributed to this story.



Contact Teri Weaver anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2274