By DENYCE DUNCAN LACY
After years of advocating for reform of the state’s public authorities, PEF has joined a nearly 40-member coalition of labor, government, good-government and business groups to shine some light on New York’s “shadow” government agencies.

At a news conference in Albany in April, President Benson told reporters PEF strongly supports legislation being pushed by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer that would reform the state’s 212 public authorities. Some of the authorities have “run amok,” said coalition members, racking up more than $114 billion in debt and operating without adequate oversight. Besides the huge debt burden, that lack of oversight has led to other serious problems at several authorities, including allegations of waste, fraud and mismanagement. For example, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) is under indictment for mismanagement, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority came under fire for allegedly keeping two sets of financial records to hide a budget surplus. 

Charges hurt all gov’t workers
“When our citizens read about abuses of power by public authority officials or mismanagement of public resources, it reflects badly on every government employee, whether a state worker or authority employee,” Benson told reporters. “The time has come for meaningful, lasting changes, to ensure these entities are good representatives of our government.”

Coalition members say the Public Authority Reform Act of 2004 would boost public accountability, establish corporate governance standards and create a commission to review the agencies, and recommend whether they should be continued, eliminated, or have their functions transferred to a state agency. Because there has not been such a review of the agencies’ mission in 48 years, coalition members said, the number of authorities has quadrupled, their debt burden has ballooned and the agencies have become increasingly secretive.

“It’s time we rein in this system of independent agencies,” said Hevesi. “Some of them have run amok and are out of control.”

Billions hidden in shadows
Besides the $114 billion debt burden, Hevesi said the public authorities employed at least 97,000 people in 2002. Only 44 authorities report procurement activity to the Comptroller’s Office and they awarded contracts worth more than $10.5 billion — contracts that did not come under public scrutiny. Although the Comptroller’s Office must approve all state agency contracts, it does not approve authority contracts, except those of the Long Island Power Authority and the New York Thruway Authority. The Reform Act would take the agencies out of the shadows, and require authorities to get competitive bids when contracting out.

“What you want to hide in state government, you put into an authority,” said Spitzer. “It’s where you’ve taken the stuff, you don’t want the auditors to see, the voters to see.”

Benson said one out-of-control shadow agency is the Health Research Institute (HRI), which serves as an adjunct to the state Health Department.

“HRI has an annual budget of $379 million and is virtually unaccountable to the state Legislature,” Benson said. “HRI also claims they are not subject to the Freedom of Information Law and PEF had to sue them to get a copy of their payroll. 

“It is time to increase the scrutiny of authority actions,” Benson added. “Effective accountable government attracts the best employees, like those already represented by our unions.” 

Communicator Home June 04

Inside This Issue
Features
Contract Update: State stalls...
Take agencies out of the shadows
Law could reduce contracting-out
Keep pressure to save Fulton CF
Heroes plant feet in NH

Departments
President's Message
Member's Mailbag
Nurses' Station
Retirees In Action
Members' Highlights
Back Cover Ad
PEF Member Benefits & Travel

Union Matters
Vote: PEF’s privatization buster
Senate demands offset of...
Stopping out-of-title work in its...
Vote: privatization buster for ’04
Step in the right direction at SED
Fed. law changes bad for union
Nurses' fast response saves life
$ for prison health care workers
Law gives benefit to parole...
PI scientists’ write to the top

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