Opinion

That soft Skelos line

Gov. Cuomo must not read the headlines — at least if he really believes Albany has so completely rid itself of corruption that public financing of campaigns is “the last meaningful reform left undone.”

Case in point about “reform”: this week’s indictment of Ruben Wills, which accuses the Queens councilman of stealing $11,500 in matching funds by submitting a phony invoice for his failed 2009 race for the City Council.

It’s precisely New York City’s program of giving six public dollars for every one candidates collect themselves that Cuomo wants to take statewide.

In the state Senate, some Democrats have introduced a bill that would ban candidates from using campaign cash as a legal defense fund — and retroactively strip pension benefits from corrupt public officials. But Gov. Cuomo is fixated on public financing, largely because the left-leaning Working Families Party is threatening to run its own candidate against him unless he gets a public-financing plan enacted.

And here’s where Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos comes in. Instead of standing firm against corruption-inviting public financing, Skelos suggests his conference could endorse such a plan if it used off-budget funds. This is in sharp contrast to the position by the GOP’s presumptive gubernatorial candidate, Rob Astorino.

Until recently, Skelos and the New York GOP stood firm against public financing. This is no time to change course — especially if they hope to convince New Yorkers that they’re better suited to run the state.