Forgive Governor Cuomo if he's getting ahead of himself and giving out free hugs.

Cuomo finally has an ethics plan in place that would silence some cries from good-government groups, formulating a proposal that would force lawmakers to disclose more details about their outside income.

"We believe this is the most stringent ethical policy in the United States of America, gushed the governor, who may have been still recovering from his big embrace of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Tuesday night.

But State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos was in a less touchy-feely mood, pouring cold water on the Cuomo-Heastie love-fest after meeting some of his Republican colleagues last night.

"I may have certain agreements with the governor. I may have certain agreements with the speaker and I may just have certain agreements with myself,” Skelos said, raising the specter of schizophrenia.

"But the bottom line is, you need three people, three branches, to get something done, and right now it's two people talking to each other and we'll be part of that conversation eventually.” 

In a thumb in the governor's eye, Skelos is pushing for legislation that would require domestic partners of lawmakers to disclose their personal finances – a swipe at the governor's girlfriend, TV chef Sandra Lee.

Getting a little more personal, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi, sent out a broadside on Twitter: "The administration is glad to negotiate disclosures of all girlfriends."

All of this not-so-cute back-and-forth signals one thing: we are a very long way from getting a real ethics deal passed in Albany. The governor was able to do a lot of arm twisting to get same-sex marriage passed in the Senate but it doesn't appear that he will have the same success on this front.

In Earthworld II – where the State Senate is controlled by Democrats after Cuomo campaigned hard for them last year – it may be a different story.

But in this world, at least there will be a lot of hugs to be had.

Programming note: There will be no ItCH until next Wednesday. Until then, excelsior!

 

Bob Hardt