Ethics Reform Is at the Top of City Bar Legislative Agenda
New York Law Journal, February 13, 2015
Ethics Reform Is at the Top of City Bar Legislative Agenda
With corruption scandals continuing to dog Albany, the New York City Bar Association said it is making the adoption of meaningful governmental and ethical reforms its top state legislative priority for 2015. New York City Bar Association President Debra Raskin said a convergence of events seems to be creating a propitious climate for establishing reforms that she said the governor and the Legislature have given lip service to in the past, but have never properly addressed, despite a succession of earlier scandals. But Raskin said the resignation of Sheldon Silver as Assembly speaker amid a federal fraud investigation, as well as reform proposals made by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s stated intention to push for ethics-in-government improvements as part of the 2015-16 state budget, all make this the right time to enact reforms.
