• • Support the Procurement Integrity Act
• • Support the Database of Deals
• • Establish meaningful Conflict of Interest laws
• • End off-budget contracts that circumvent normal procurement processes

New York has been engulfed by scandals driven by unscrupulous actors exploiting loopholes in the system to line their own pockets at the taxpayers’ expense. This was laid bare during the corruption trial of Joe Percoco, who joined former SUNY Polytechnic President Alain Kaloyeros and lobbyist Todd Howe to use non-profits to cut deals with taxpayer money that lined their own pockets.

This behavior must be stopped by strengthening the state’s transparency and rules over procurement – the process of purchasing goods and services. Providing sunlight to citizens while giving oversight power to the duly-elected State Comptroller, instead of Albany bureaucrats, is a step in the right direction. Setting ethical guidelines over conflicts of interest and abolishing the use of non-profits to sidestep transparency laws is an even broader solution.

By advancing the bi-partisan reforms in the Procurement Integrity Act and the Database of Deals, taxpayers can begin to regain faith in state government.

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• • All documents that inform the vote of an elected official must be public for viewing, without FOIL
• • Protect citizen rights to attend the policy-making and procurement meetings of elected officials

New York’s Open Meetings Law is simple and clear, providing citizens with access to the decisions made by our elected officials, and the documents that inform those decisions. But too often, governments at the local level fail to make policy and purchasing decisions in the light of day, schedule meetings to discourage public participation, or withhold crucial documentation from the public. Open Meetings Law must be enforced, and the principles of an open and transparent government defended at all levels.

• • Elected officials should not benefit from their own vote to raise salaries
• • Elected officials should not benefit from their own vote to extend terms

If a public official voted to award his law firm a lucrative contract at taxpayer expense, this clear conflict of interest would draw criminal scrutiny. Yet throughout New York state, elected officials are benefiting from their own votes to increase their pay and rollback their term limits—sometimes in direct opposition to public referendums. This practice demonstrates as clear a conflict of interest as any other self-dealing vote and must end.

• • Fees can only cover the cost of a government service
• • Only the State can authorize new local taxes
• • A fee that funds the general budget is an illegal tax

Rather than address budget deficits by making tough fiscal decisions (and perhaps cutting spending rather than raising revenue), local governments are turning to fee increases as a means to close spending gaps. However, many of these fees are actually illegal taxes that circumvent state authority and unfairly places an oversized burden on the few to pay for general government services.

• • Oppose the legislative pay increase and outside income restrictions
• • End defined-benefit political pensions
• • Make the Legislature subject to FOIL

The State Legislature’s six-month schedule makes it difficult for lawmakers to maintain ordinary employment in the private-sector–an important component of a citizen-driven, part-time legislature. New York is only of only 11 states that doesn’t limit the amount of time in session. Spending more time in Albany is the last thing we need from the legislature, but that direction is all but ensured by the legislature’s recent pay raise and ban on most outside income. We want our legislators connected to their communities, understanding the impact that New York’s taxes and regulations have on families and businesses because they too must earn a living. Instead, the legislature’s new pay structure shuts the door on small business owners, requiring them to choose between public service and keeping his or her business.

• • All state spending should be appropriated in the State Budget
• • Public Authorities (MTA, DASNY, Empire State Development) should meet the same open reporting standards as state agencies
• • Sunlight for all state slush funds

Today on Open Book New York, citizens can review line-item budgeted spending for all Offices and Departments in New York State. However, public authorities such as the MTA and DASNY are not currently required to fully participate in Open Book (they provide only top-level budget information). State-run non-profits (like those used by Alain Kaloyeros in the Buffalo Billions corruption case) and corporations (like Empire Development) do not participate in Open Book, while the executive and legislative branch have nearly unchecked access to pools of money at the Dormitory Authority, Empire State Development, and through the Attorney General’s Martin Act authority.

The state's Dormitory Authority is one off the biggest issuers of public debt and a facilitator for one of the largest taxpayer-funded slush funds in the nation. It racks up billions in costs to New York’s taxpayers all to provide Albany politicians with money to do political favors. If the Governor or Legislature are serious about creating transparency and accountability, funneling billions of our money through a shadowy agency has to stop. Every state expenditure should be public and subject to line-item budgeting. If politicians want to spend our money they should be willing to vote on it.

New York’s wildly expensive economic development gimmicks have been at the center of recent corruption scandals. These programs – which cost us billions – are unfair and have created few jobs. What’s worse, too much political power is exerted in the process, directing millions of dollars in Crony Capitalism under the guise but outside the purview of the Regional Councils. We need real tax and regulatory reforms that will help ALL businesses create jobs and stay here – not just a privileged few.