Metro

GOP skeptical about Skelos

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Key Republican state senators have their doubts about Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ claimed willingness to back Gov. Cuomo’s efforts to slash spending and reform legislative ethics, The Post has learned.

“Many people are very disappointed with Dean’s leadership ability and don’t know if he’s going to be able to deliver on what he says is his desire to back the governor,” one of the state’s best-known Republicans said.

Skelos (R-Nassau) raised doubts about his commitment to cutting spending and reforming government during the past two weeks, not only in the Senate but among Cuomo’s top aides and also within the ranks of Assembly Democrats.

Skelos first declared that Long Island schools weren’t getting enough money in Cuomo’s cut-to-the-bone budget, then raised the specter of working out a private budget deal with fiscally extravagant and ultra-cagey Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) that would delay passage of an on-time budget on April 1.

Skelos then publicly questioned the need for lawyers like himself to disclose the names of their clients, which Cuomo calls vital to clean up the scandal-scarred Legislature.

Skelos took the positions — setting up a potential battle with the highly popular Cuomo — at the same time that Silver was publicly claiming he was ready to pass an on-time budget and back Cuomo’s ethics reforms.

“Talk about being outmaneuvered. It’s like Skelos is some unknown minor-league pitcher going up against Barry Bonds,” said one of the most savvy Senate insiders.

The insiders said Skelos, widely described as surrounded by mediocre advisers, is still trying to figure out how to position the Senate GOP in what many see as a once-in-a-generation struggle over the future of the state.

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Another influential Republican state senator besides Skelos is behind efforts to tamp down Cuomo’s demand that lawyer/legislators disclose the size of their outside income and the names of their private clients, insiders say.

Senate Crime and Corrections Committee Chairman Michael Nozzolio is among those resisting disclosure.

The upstate Seneca County senator has a highly lucrative law practice with Harris Beach, a nearly 200-lawyer-strong firm with 12 New York offices that represents health-care and other government-regulated companies.

“Mike has been cashing in for many years, and you can be sure he’s not exactly excited about having to disclose his client and income,” said a highly knowledgeable source.

Harris Beach, which just launched a “State-Wide Municipal Blog for Public and Private Sector Leaders to Share Ideas on State and Local Government Issues,” employs several other prominent Republicans, as well as former Gov. Hugh Carey and former Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, both Democrats.

The Post last week disclosed that Skelos, a lawyer with the large Long Island firm Ruskin, Moscou, Faltischek was resisting Cuomo’s anti-corruption efforts.

The paper also disclosed that Silver, a lawyer with Manhattan-based personal-injury powerhouse Weitz & Luxenberg, claimed after years of resistance to be ready to back Cuomo’s proposals.

fredric.dicker@nypost.com