ALBANY – Governor Cuomo announced legislation that would create a new class of public corruption crimes and enhance the ability of the state’s prosecutors to crack down on it.
Much of the legislation, announced on Tuesday, was proposed by the state DA’s association and Orange County DA Frank Phillips said the issue of public corruption has risen to the surface in recent days.
“Here in New York and elsewhere we capitalize on the headlines of the day to perhaps get the legislature to act on this kind of legislation,” Phillips said. “Clearly the recent indictments by the US attorney that pointed to a culture of corruption, not in New York City politics, but extending up to Albany.”
Proposed new crimes for violating public trust include bribery of a public servant, corrupting the government and failure to report public corruption.
There would be tough new penalties for misuse of taxpayer dollars, a lifetime ban from government.
Phillips said one of the “key elements” left out of the bill is termination of a public official’s pension benefits if they are convicted.
