“Today, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s retrial begins while my Conference’s ethics reform package, the Public Officers Accountability Act (A.05864), remains stagnant in committee. This year, I’ve been very displeased by the lack of effort to stop government corruption and the failure to include these measures in the state budget. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle must understand the need to clean up Albany, yet they do little to enact real change. I hope the start of Silver’s retrial will ignite a much stronger effort from the Legislature to review the legislation introduced by the Assembly Minority and pass this much-needed package.”