Politics on the Hudson

Without a majority of votes present, Senate Democrats were unable to pass an ethics reform measure Thursday night that would aim to bolster oversight of the scandal-plagued Legislature.

The defeat was illustrative of the tenuous majority Democrats hold in the chamber. The Senate held a special session Thursday to take up some appointments and push for an overhaul of the ethics laws, but were doing so without a clear majority of votes.

Democrats, who hold a slim 32-30 majority, were without one of their members, leaving neither Democrats nor Republicans with the necessary 32 votes to pass legislation. Long Island Sen. Brian Foley, a Democrat, was out because his father passed away this week.

So Democrats needed Republicans to pass legislation. But Republicans refused to back an amendment to the ethics bill that would expand lobbying laws and give the state Board of Elections new powers through a new committee. Republicans were concerned the new board would heavily consist of Democrats.

When the measure failed along party lines, Democrats pulled back the main ethics bill that had passed the Assembly in June, fearing the bill would suffer the same fate.

Republicans were also missing a member; Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, Orange County, was absent. And he was a key member for Democrats: He co-sponsored the main bill. Republicans, though, were prepared to vote for the main bill before it was pulled off the agenda, officials said.

The bill would revamp the state’s ethics laws and create three commissions to oversee ethics in the legislature, executive branch and among lobbyists. It would also establish an investigation office to oversee the Legislature.

“It’s disappointing,” said Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group, who was supporting the bill.
“The hope is that the Assembly and Senate come back, hopefully relatively soon, and negotiate an agreement that overhauls ethics and deals with an awful status quo.”

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