Today, Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush (R,C,I-Black River) expressed support for his Assembly Minority colleagues and their ethics package to address growing concerns over the misappropriation of taxpayer funds in the state’s economic development projects. This package would set up a Lump Sum Allocation Advisory Committee in an effort to create greater transparency and accountability with the use of taxpayer dollars.

“It is essential we create more oversight to review how the state is spending millions of taxpayer dollars,” said Blankenbush. “Economic development in our state has been overshadowed by failure and scandal for far too long, and holding those who misappropriate funds accountable is needed more now than ever. Bringing businesses to New York is crucial if we are going to get this state back on the up, but it must be done fairly and by the book.”

This legislation would also grant the New York State comptroller the ability to coordinate an Economic Development Audit Board for the purposes of audits on state economic development projects, and prohibit the obtaining of project contracts by certain campaign contributors. Blankenbush, a cosponsor of this transparency legislation, hopes this increased attention to the legislation will motivate the chair of the Ways and Means Committee to act.