NYS comptroller cracking down on corruption, waste

NYS comptroller cracking down on corruption, waste

State Comptroller Alan Hevesi is coming up with new ways to tackle the problem of wasteful or corrupt financial practices at state agencies and public authorities.

Hevesi issued sweeping new regulations November 16 to increase transparency and accountability at public authorities.

The new regs will require more transparent, timely and accurate financial reporting by the 215 public authorities in New York state that are statewide or regional in scope.

He called public authorities “an immense shadow government” that proves “when no one is watching, the increase in mismanagement and corruption is dramatic.”

In September, Hevesi told state legislators at a hearing on government-procurement he may establish a “Vendex” system for collecting and sharing relevant information about state contractors. He established such a system in 1990 for New York City when he was comptroller there.

Hevesi added, however, that he is only considering the possibility of creating such a system for New York state and was not prepared to discuss it in any detail at that time.

In January 2005, Hevesi began requiring vendors wanting to sell goods and/or services to the state to submit background data on themselves.

On the day of the hearing, the Daily News in New York City ran an editorial titled “Drive the mob off the road,” which sharply criticized the governor for allowing state agencies to continue handing out contracts “to the patently goon-riddled outfits that have wormed their way into public construction .... The best the bureaucrats can do is plead ignorance, when willful blindness would be more truthful.... It’s up to state Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s office to start pushing hard for Vendex at the Albany level.” — Sherry Halbrook

Blow the lid off state waste!
Is your state agency wasting money on private consultants/contractors?

If it is, get the facts and share them with PEF. Contact the PEF Department of Civil Service Enforcement at (518) 785-1900 or (800) 342-4306, ext. 280.

So far, PEF and the NYS Fiscal Policy Institute have identified more than $500 million wasted annually by the state on “deals” with private contractors for work that could be done better and for substantially less by state employees.