When state Sen. Carl Kruger was in dicted for bribery last month, Gov. Cuomo — who campaigned hard on an ethics-reform plank last fall — said he wanted to focus on the budget.
Ethics would come later.
OK, he got his budget.
Now Albany needs to get ethics.
Easier said than done.
Cuomo has called for the creation of a comprehensive public-integrity commission with oversight of the executive and legislative branches — and for requiring full disclosure on outside income from legislators, such as the law-firm relationships of both Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.
Indeed, one Cuomo setback in the budget — failing to get a cap on medical-malpractice judgments, a key to controlling Medicaid spending — underscores the need for reform: The cap was staunchly opposed by Silver, who serves of counsel at trial-lawyer giant Weitz & Luxenberg.
The broader need for overhaul couldn’t be more obvious. The last few weeks have been filled with constant reminders of elected officials’ ethical breaches:
* It was revealed last week that, in addition to his federal bribery charges, Kruger used his influence to procure free NYPD parking permits. (No topic is too trivial for the advantage-takers.)
* Former Comptroller Alan Hevesi was begging for no jail time for his $1 million pay-for-play pension scheme.
* Former Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada and his son were hit with federal tax-evasion charges to go with their December embezzlement indictments for using their nonprofit Soundview Health Network as a personal ATM.
* Nonprofits connected to Queens state Sen. Shirley Huntley are under investigation by the state attorney general.
Over the long haul, cleaning Albany’s ethical stable is as necessary a task as maintaining a balanced budget.
Now’s the time, Governor.