Metro

GOPers duck over Skelos income issue

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ALBANY — Spineless Senate Republicans from around the state scrambled for cover yesterday — like rats caught in a floodlight — after they were asked to say whether Majority Leader Dean Skelos should disclose the names of his law clients that do business with the state.

Several Republicans literally ran away from the question, cutting a bee-line out of the Senate lobby to avoid a reporter, while others clammed up or used double-speak to avoid giving a straight answer.

Such a disclosure would be required under Gov. Cuomo’s new proposed ethics bill and was the focus of a report in Monday’s Post that found that Skelos — unlike Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver — won’t say whether he’s representing private legal clients with business before the state.

Silver “unequivocally” denied that he was.

“I’m still out on it,” Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) opined boldly on Cuomo’s proposal, which would also require lawmakers to disclose how much they’re being paid by their private-sector clients.

“I think there’s a negotiation going on between the Senate and the Assembly, and I believe they will come up with something that will work, but I’m not privy to it.”

Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon (R-Nassau), a private-practice lawyer, didn’t mince words as he confronted the issue head on with a “no comment.”

Freshman Sen. Gregory Ball (R-Putnam) contended that he’s “always supported public disclosures.” Ball succeeds ex-Sen. and private-sector lawyer Vincent Liebell, who was sentenced Friday to 21 months in federal prison for accepting kickbacks and for tax evasion.

But asked about Skelos’ legal dealings as a lawyer with the Long Island firm of Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, Ball insisted: “This isn’t about Senator Skelos. I believe there are real concerns about how far this governor wants to go in having [ethics] protections.”

Upstate Sen. Catharine Young (R-Olean) also repeatedly refused to say whether Skelos should make the disclosure, insisting, “I have every confidence in the ethics of our leader, and he’s working on the issue right now.”

But Cuomo administration and legislative sources said progress on a new ethics bill had ground to a virtual halt.

While Silver, of counsel to the personal-injury law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, has repeatedly insisted he’s reached an ethics deal with Cuomo, the governor has refused to confirm the claim.

A second source close to the Cuomo administration said there was concern Silver had endorsed a strong ethics proposal only because he knows Skelos will kill it.

“It’s an old Albany game, claiming you’re for a reform when you know the other house of the Legislature is going to kill it,” the source said.

fredric.dicker@nypost.com