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Goodell Proposes Law To Clean Up Albany Corruption

Andy Goodell

State Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, is again introducing legislation in the state Assembly to ban campaign contributions from contractors and others doing business with state government.

The legislation, which seeks to ban behavior known as “pay to play” has come under scrutiny after last week’s conviction of four men in a bid-rigging scandal involving the Buffalo Billion. While Gov. Andrew Cuomo was never implicated in the bid-rigging, Alan Kaloyeros, a key player in the state’s economic development infrastructure, was convicted of rigging bids for a $226 million state construction contract so that only major campaign donors to Cuomo’s 2014 re-election campaign could receive bids for the work.

The Buffalo Billion scandal comes after the conviction earlier this year of Joseph Percoco, Cuomo’s former top aide and former campaign manager, was convicted of receiving bribes from companies that wanted to do work for New York state. Percoco also solicited major campaign contributions from those companies.

Goodell’s legislation would prohibit campaign contributions from companies seeking contracts with the state, public unions seeking pay and benefit increases, special interest groups and others who would benefit financially from requested legislation or other action by public officials. The legislation would also apply to political candidates.

Bribery and bid rigging are already illegal, as reflected by the recent convictions of top Cuomo officials.

“There is an obvious conflict of interest when those seeking to do business with the state are urged to make thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to the governor or other elected officials before a bid is awarded,” Goodell said. “This fosters a terribly corrupting ‘pay-to-play’ culture where state contractors feel compelled to make generous campaign contributions in order to receive contracts from the state.”

Goodell said those seeking special legislation should be prohibited from making campaign contributions to legislators, who are then asked to vote in favor of that legislation. All legislation should be based on an objective evaluation of the long-term best interests of the taxpayers, not the best interest of those who make the largest campaign contributions.

“This is a huge loophole in our ethics rules,” Goodell said. “It is a violation of our ethics rules for lobbyists to pay for a legislator’s lunch if it costs more than $15, but the same lobbyists can give the legislator checks for thousands of dollars in campaign contributions at the same luncheon.”

Goodell is hopeful that the recent convictions of top Cuomo officials will provide the needed attention to get this legislation passed if the state Legislature returns later this year for a special session.

The same legislation was originally introduced by Goodell in 2015, but was blocked by the Democratic members of the Governmental Operations Committee. The Republican members of the Committee unanimously supported the legislation.

“The need for this legislation is obvious. I hope the Assembly will take the necessary action to prohibit ‘pay-to-play’ and stop this corruption,” said Goodell.

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