“It is disappointing that after 11 months of closed door deliberations the best that the Assembly Majority could come up with are procedural changes that they themselves voted against mere weeks ago when the Assembly Minority proposed them. Their proposal includes no mention of term limits, stricter corruption penalties, and most egregiously, no pension forfeiture for corrupt lawmakers; all measures intensely supported by the public. Grandstanding like this will move us no closer to rooting out systemic corruption and restoring faith in government and that is pathetic.

“The Assembly Minority has long been the conference of ethics reform but our proposals are routinely blocked in committee or buried under Albany’s shroud of secrecy until a time when the Assembly Majority can steal our ideas for themselves to claim credit. This is truly a sad day in Albany and a pitiful display of deference for the integrity of our government.”