Sen. Carlucci joins Albany’s ethics reform efforts

NEW CITY – State Sen. David Carlucci has joined a group of lawmakers who are calling for ethics reform in Albany, proposing measures such as stripping pension benefits from elected officials who have been convicted of certain felonies.

Since the recent arrest of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, state lawmakers have been proposing ethics reform.Gov. Andrew Cuomo is also pushing to reshape New York’s ethics laws.

“This ethics reform package works to ensure those who take advantage of the taxpayers’ trust and their hard money will be punished, and held accountable for their actions,” Carlucci, D-New City, said in a statement. “Whether it’s public officials that use their position to line their own pockets, or special interest groups that use money to influence the political process, we need reform, and we need it now.”

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe joined Carlucci at a press conference Friday.

As a member of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, Zugibe shared his frustration with other members because actions that had appeared to be illegal turned out to be legal, he said.

“Because it was created that way. And the expression that everybody created was ‘This is another example of legalized corruption in Albany,’ ” Zugibe said, adding that the expression repeatedly came up among the panel’s discussion. “And this is another one: Can you imagine the audacity of people who believe that they should be able to collect their pension after violating the public trust as a public officer?”

To fix that, Carlucci has proposed a bill to recover the value of any retirement benefits collected by elected officials who have been convicted of felonies in relation to a theft of public funds or the use of their power as elected officials to gain a profit, rights or privileges.

Zugibe said his office has teamed up with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI to form a task force to tackle public corruption in Rockland County.

“If we can get this (bill) through, it will be another tool,” Zugibe said. “Maybe it’ll be a deterrent.”

Carlucci’s reform package also included a bill to prohibit state lawmakers from performing any activity that results in outside income. Another bill included was to establish a “pay-to-play” database of those entities that have a business relationship with the state to ultimately limit political contributions from those entities.

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