Albany Watch

Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, said the agreement to be announced later this morning on ethics reform is not the act of bi-partisanship it’s being made out to be.

He said Senate Republicans didn’t see the bill until yesterday. Assembly Republicans, however, are apparently on board with the agreement.

“It is unfortunate that despite their claims of bipartisanship, Democrats in the Senate and Assembly refused to include Senate Republicans in the negotiation of ethics reform legislation, and that they chose not to give us a bill draft until late yesterday,” Skelos said in a statement.

“Apparently Speaker Silver and Senate Democrats think it’s more important to negotiate directly with special interests than with the other elected officials they want to support the bill.

“We are reviewing the legislation to see how it differs from the ethics reform bill that Senate Republicans were prepared to support last year, before Senate Democrats pulled it from the floor to prevent a vote. That bill was a good first start and, as before, we may offer amendments that seek to strengthen the bill.”

In September, an ethics bill introduced on the Senate floor was rejected by Senate Republicans because Democrats sought to add amendments to the Assembly bill that passed in June. On that day, Democrats were minus one member, Sen. Brian Foley, because of a death in his family, leaving Democrats without the 32 votes necessary to pass the ethics bill.

Republicans voted against the amendment and then Democrats pulled back the main bill—a rare defeat of a bill on the Senate floor.