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PEF hails measure to reduce corrupt contracting
Go Public bill now law
By SHERRY HALBROOK
The first of PEF’s four Go Public bills has been signed into law.
Gov. George Pataki signed legislation August 23 that requires lobbyists to tell the public more about their efforts to influence the award of state contracts.
“This is a terrific first step toward bringing the whole system of awarding state contracts for goods and services out into the light of public scrutiny,” said PEF President Roger Benson. “We congratulate our state legislators and the governor for joining us in this effort toward securing more honest and accountable government for all New Yorkers.”
This bill was one of four PEF has highlighted in its Go Public campaign for sweeping legal reforms to stem waste and corruption on the shadowy fringes of government in New York state.
Get ready to push
A second Go Public bill — S.1920/A.6542 — was passed by both houses of the state Legislature, but has yet to be sent to the governor for his action. This legislation would require state agencies to keep track of how many private consultants work for them and how much it costs, and to report that information annually to the Legislature.
“All PEF members should be ready for our call to mobilize when this bill is sent to the governor. We will have only a few days to impress on him the importance of signing it into law,” Benson said.
If we can get both of these bills signed into law in 2005, it will be a great service to all state taxpayers,” he added. “More evidence is coming to light every month of waste and corruption by state agencies in the award of contracts and by public authorities and benefit corporations in their conduct of the public’s business.”
In August, PEF completed a study of engineering and design contracts let by the state Office of General Services which showed that agency wasted $11 million last year by contracting for work it could and should have done in-house.
(See related article.)
This was preceded by a study released in June by the Fiscal Policy Institute which found other state agencies wasting $500 million annually on private contracts.
An Albany commercial landlord, Ronald Laberge, who held hundreds of millions of dollars in property leases for state agencies through OGS, was sentenced September 6 for bribing OGS officials and illegally shifting renovation costs for other buildings he owned onto the state leases.
In August, the state finally announced that because of corruption and mismanagement, it may replace the NYS Racing Association as operator of the state’s three thoroughbred racing tracks — Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct.
“This shameful litany of greedy breaches of the public trust and the squandering of hundreds of millions of hard-earned tax dollars has to end,” Benson continued. “And enacting our Go Public bills is the best way to begin that process.”
Battles far from over
The third bill PEF is boosting in its Go Public campaign would force state agencies to analyze the relative costs and benefits of having their own employees do work versus having it done by contractors, before awarding the contracts for it. This legislation — S.3923A/A.1259 was passed by the Assembly this year, but failed to come up for a vote in the Senate after it was amended and resubmitted in that house.
The fourth bill would substantially increase accountability and disclosure requirements for New York’s more than 730 state and local public authorities.
This tough legislation was introduced by Assembly Member Richard Brodsky and was passed in that house. However, the legislation which ultimately passed both houses was far too weak in PEF’s view to address the abuses that have come to light at many public authorities.
“PEF spent more than $1.3 million last year on its Go Public campaign to educate New Yorkers and their leaders about the need to clean up state government and the importance of enacting these tough new laws,” Benson said. “We have set a high standard for our legislation, just as we set high standards for ourselves as public employees every day. We are not finished. We will continue to fight for honest, responsible government. New Yorkers need it and they deserve it.” | |
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