The Committee urges voters to favor these candidates who have demonstrated their commitment to real ethics and campaign finance reform by agreeing to co-sponsor the Anti-Corruption Amendment to the State Constitution.

 

 

Candidates for State Senate: 

Long Island 

   Monica Martinez (D )(SD 3) 

   Lou D’Amaro (D) (SD 4) 

   Phil Boyle (R) (SD 4) 

   Jim Gaughran (D) (SD 5) 

   Kemp Hannon (R) (SD 6) 

   Anna Kaplan (D) (SD 7) 

   John Brooks (D) (SD 8)  

   Todd Kaminsky (D) (SD 9) 

New York City 

   Jonathan Liu (D) (SD 11) 

   Jessica Ramos (D) (SD 13) 

   Zellnor Myrie (D) (SD 20) 

   Diane Savino (D) (SD 23)

   Brad Holyman (D) (SD 27) 

   Liz Krueger (D) (SD 28) 

   Robert Jackson (D) (SD 31) 

   Allesandra Biaggi (D) (SD 34) 

Hudson Valley 

   Shelley Mayer (D) (SD 37) 

   David Carlucci (D) (SD 38) 

   James Skoufis (D) (SD39) 

   Karen Smythe (D) )SD 41) 

   Jen Metzger (D) (SD 42) 

Capital Region 

   Aaron Gladd (D) (SD 43) 

Daphne Jordan (R) (SD 43) 

Pat Strong (D) (SD 46) 

George Amedore  (R) (SD 46) 

North Country 

   None 

Central New York 

   John Mannion (D) (SD 50) 

    Bob Antonacci (R) (SD 50) 

    Rachael May (D) (SD 53) 

Western New York 

   Carima El-Behairy (D) (SD 60) 

Joan Seamans (D) (SD 61)

Tim Kennedy (D) (SD 63) 

 

Candidates for State Assembly: 

Long Island 

   Fred Thiele (D) (AD 1) 

   Rona Smith (D) (AD 2) 

   Clyde Parker (D) (AD 3) 

   Joseph DeStefano (R) (AD 3) 

   Avrum Rosen (D) (AD 12) 

   Andrew Raia (R) (AD 12) 

   Allen Foley (D) (AD 15) 

   Michael Montesano (R) (AD 15)

Anthony D'Urso (D) (AD 16) 

   Ed Ra (R) (AD 19)

New York City 

Stacey Amato (D) (AD 23) 

Nily Rozic (D) (AD 25) 

Vivian Cook (D) (AD 32) 

Michael Miller (D) (AD 38) 

Diana Richardson (D) (AD 43) 

Robert Carroll (D) (AD 44) 

Mathylde Frontus (D) (AD 46) 

Felix Ortiz (D) (AD 51) 

Adam Baumel (D) (AD 64) 

Harvey Epstein (D) (AD74) 

Richard Gottfried (D) (AD 75) 

Rebecca Seawright (D) (AD 76) 

Hudson Valley 

Amy Paulin (D) (AD 88) 

Sandy Galef (D) (AD 95) 

    Ellen Jaffee (D) (AD 97 

Capital Region 

   Tistrya Houghtling (D) (AD 107) 

   Jacon Ashby (R) (AD 107) 

   John McDonald (D) (AD 108)

Patricia Fahy (D) (AD 109)

   Angelo Santabarbara (D) (AD 111) 

   Brian McGarry  (R) (AD 111) 

   Carrie Woerner (D) (AD 113)    

North Country 

   Dan Stec (R) (AD 114) 

Central New York 

   Marianne Buttenschon (D) (AD 119)

William McGee (D) (AD 121)

   John Salka (R) (AD 121)

   Donna  Lupardo (D) (AD 123)

   Keith Batman (D) (AD 126) 

   Gary Finch (R) (AD 126) 

   Al Stripe (D) (AD 127) 

   Nicholas Paro (R) (AD 127) 

Western New York 

   Andrew Gilchrist (D) (AD 135)

Mark Johns (R) (AD 135) 

   Robin Schimminger (D) (AD 140) 

   Karen McManhon (D) (AD 147)

Raymond Walter (R) (AD 147)

 

 

The Committee urges voters to oppose these candidates in key races because they will not commit to support the Anti-Corruption Amendment even though their opponent has agreed to co-sponsor it.  In these races your vote can make a difference.  

 

Candidates for State Senate: 

Long Island

Dean Murray (R) (SD 3) 

Carl Marcellino (R) (SD 5)

Kevin Thomas (D) (SD 6)

Elaine Phillips (R) (SD 7)

Jeff Pravato (R) (SD 8)

Fran Becker (R) (SD 9)

Hudson Valley

Tom Basile (R) (SD 39)

Sue Serino (R) (SD 41)

Annie Rabbitt (R) (SD 42)

Western New York

Chris Jacobs (R) (SD 60)

Michael Ranzenhofer (SD 62)

 

Candidates for State Assembly:

Long Island

Patrick O'Connor (R) (AD 1) 

Anthony Palumbo (R) (AD 2)

New York City

Matthew Pecorino (R) (AD 23)

Steve Saperstein (R) (AD 46)

Nicole Malliotakis (R) (AD 64)

Capital Region

Morgan Zegers (R) (AD 113)

Central New York

Dennis Bova (R) (AD 119)

 

 

BACKGROUND ON THE ANTI-CORRUPTION AMENDMENT

The Anti-Corruption Amendment would create the State Government Integrity Commission, modeled on the Commission on Judicial already provided for in the State Constitution, which has worked well.   The Commission would be independent of the Executive and Legislative Branches with a majority of its members appointed by the Judiciary.  It would replace both the Joint Commission on Public Ethics ("JCOPE") and the Legislative Ethics Commission ("LEC").  It would transfer campaign finance jurisdiction for the New York State Board of Elections to the new Integrity Commission.

 

New York is currently the only state where the ethics commission does not operate by majority vote. Incredibly, two (2) of the Governor’s appointees to the 14-member ethics commission, JCOPE, can veto an investigation or a finding of violation, as can three (3) of the appointees of the legislative leaders. The Integrity Commission created by the Anti-Corruption Amendment would operate by majority vote.

 

New York is also marked by its division of ethics enforcement responsibility. JCOPE can find a violation by executive branch officials or employees and impose a fine but only the LEC can find a violation by or fine a legislative branch official or employee. The LEC may reject JCOPE’s interpretation of the law. In all cases, discipline (admonishment, censure, demotion, suspension or removal) is left to the discretion of entity in which the official or employee works. The Integrity Commission would have full discipline authority over both branches except that the Legislature could overrule censure or removal of an elected official. A constitutional amendment is needed to create a single enforcement body with full sanctioning power.

 

Nearly half the states give the responsibility for enforcing the campaign finance laws to their ethics commission. New York needs to do the same because the State Board of Elections is controlled by the political parties and therefore is not sufficiently independent to enforce campaign finance laws designed to limit the pay-to-play culture.

 

Ethics and other rules barring official misconduct are only as good as the mechanism available to enforce them. Without an adequate enforcement mechanism these rules exist only on paper without real world force or effect. “Paper” rules do nothing to combat what far too many see as a culture of corruption and pay-to-play in Albany.

 

Other key features of the Anti-Corruption Amendment include the following:

 

• A majority of the members of the Commission would be appointed by a branch of government not regulated by the Commission.
• Unlike JCOPE, where the person appointing a member can remove that member for what the appointing authority deems to be substantial neglect of duty, members of the Commission could be removed for cause only through a process by which a majority of the Commission votes to make an application for removal to the Court of Appeals.
• Ex parte communications between Commission members and their appointing authorities and related staff would be barred, and no member could have held office, employment in state government or any political party or been engaged as a lobbyist in the three years prior to his or her appointment or during his or her term.
• Transparency laws would apply equally to the executive and legislative branches.
• All state officers and employees would have an ethical duty to report known misconduct to the Commission and would be protected against retaliation.
• Sexual harassment would be barred as ethical misconduct.
• The Integrity Commission would have full authority to sanction officers or employee of public authorities.