Corruption Reform One of Thorniest Issues Yet to be Resolved in Albany

One of the thorniest issues that has yet to be resolved is reform aimed at preventing the kind of alleged corruption that resulted in nine people with ties to Governor Andrew Cuomo being arrested as part of a major scandal. Zack Fink filed the following report.

In October, a federal corruption trial is expected to get underway in Lower Manhattan. Nine people face charges of bribery and bid-rigging through their work with Governor Andrew Cuomo's upstate development projects. Joe Percoco, once one of the governor's closest aides, is among those charged.

To try and prevent that kind of corruption from happening again, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has sponsored a bill to clean up the state procurement process, including how contracts are awarded. These are powers that were taken away from the comptroller by Cuomo and the legislature in 2011.

"We have to audit those contracts through the comptroller's office, just like used to be the case prior to 2011," said state Senator John DiFrancisco of Syracuse.

DiFrancisco, who once challenged Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan for his post, was an early supporter of the DiNapoli bill. But Cuomo strongly opposes it.

"We have had a series of criminal violations. That's not an audit problem," Cuomo said. "And if you try to treat it as an audit problem, it means you are avoiding what it really is, fraud and a problem of criminality. And I propose inspector generals, special prosecutors, and I think that is what we need."

Flanagan, meanwhile, is keeping his options open.

"I expect that we will have procurement reform before the end of the session, whether it's DiFrancisco's bill or a version of his bill. I expect that we will move in that direction," Flanagan said.

Finally, there is the Assembly's role in all of this. Sources say the Assembly will vote on the DiNapoli version of the bill, if the Senate goes first. But last week the Senate made a series of amendments to the bill, and the Assembly did not follow suit, indicating they are in no hurry to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.