Like many areas of the governor’s proposed $141 billion-plus state budget, his higher education plans include items that help and others that hurt.

In the governor’s grab bag of policy measures, he advanced a proposal to expand college financial assistance for undocumented immigrants and a loan forgiveness program for some college graduates – both good ideas.

The governor’s plan for loan forgiveness would allow that certain college grads whose starting salaries were less than $50,000 and who were participating in the federal “Pay As You Earn” program, could get their outstanding monthly college loan payments covered by the state.

The program reportedly would cover only about 7,000 graduates, but for those individuals it would help a lot.  And with the nation facing $1.2 trillion in outstanding college debts, this type of program – if expanded – could offer a model on how the states can help curtail massive college debts.  He gets a grade of “A” for that one. Read the rest of this entry »

In the old “Peanuts” cartoon, Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown and assures him that this time she really means it, she will hold the football and not pull it away.  So he should charge and kick the football.  And every year – despite having previously seen her pull the ball away at the last minute – Charlie believes her.

And every time, Lucy pulls the football away.

That’s how New Yorkers must feel when it comes to politicians’ promises about ethics reform.   In what has become – sadly – an annual ritual, New York’s leading political figures respond to the arrest, indictment, or conviction of an elected official by calling for sweeping ethics reforms.

And this time, they really mean it! Read the rest of this entry »

Albany was rocked by a political earthquake last week with the arrest of Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver.  The arrest stemmed from an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office and alleged the Speaker’s involvement in a vast kickback and corruption enterprise that spanned many years.  The Speaker denies the U.S. Attorney’s allegations and maintains his innocence.

And in America, there is a presumption of innocence for anyone charged with a crime.

But the allegations raised a serious public policy question:  Should New York State legislators be allowed to have outside jobs?

This is not the first time the question has come up.  There have been far too many instances of alleged corruption, indictments and convictions of New York lawmakers stemming from their moonlighting. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, Governor Cuomo unveils his plans for the 2015 legislative session.  The State of the State allows the executive a unique opportunity to command public attention and to mobilize support for his proposals, as well as to kick off the legislative session.

Typically, a State of the State address in the first year of any Administration focuses on the need for changes and reforms.  As the governor over time comes to represent the status quo, his or her rhetoric changes and the State of the State becomes a vehicle to extol the achievements of the Administration and to build on the image the governor is hoping to project. Read the rest of this entry »

Like the rest of the nation, New York State allows its legislators to have outside jobs – they are considered part-time.  Laws are in place to ensure that such outside income does not create a conflict-of-interest for the lawmakers – laws require a combination of requirements that lawmakers recuse themselves of decisions which may directly affect their wealth, prohibit them from using their office for personal gain, and by requiring the disclosure of the sources of outside income in order to ensure that the public – and regulatory agencies – can monitor lawmakers’ behavior.

New York has 213 state legislators.  In a review conducted by the New York Public Interest Research Group in 2011, roughly one-third of them report no outside job (they may have income from investments, for example, but no outside job).  About one sixth were realtors or landlords, and this was the largest category of lawmakers’ outside occupation.  A close second was the category of those working in the law.

While mandatory personal disclosures should apply to a broad range of legislators and other public officers, it has been hotly debated whether lawyers should report the names of their clients.  Obviously, without such disclosure lawyer-legislators could easily hide business relationships in which the legislator is enriching him or herself by having clients with business before the government.
Read the rest of this entry »