By MICHAEL GORMLEY
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The Senate's Republican minority said Thursday it might side with Democratic Gov. David Paterson and block an attempt by ruling Democrats to override a veto of an ethics bill the governor says is too weak.
"To suggest, as the Senate Democrats' spokesman has, that the Senate will automatically override any governor's veto is the height of arrogance," said Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Nassau County. "We share the governor's concerns that the legislation has problems and needs to be improved, which is why we offered three amendments to the bill that were rejected by every Senate Democrat."
Skelos said Paterson, who had previously proposed more stringent ethics reform, should be part of negotiations for a new bill.
Shortly after the Legislature passed its ethics bill, Paterson announced he would veto it and sought to negotiate. No meetings were planned as of Thursday. It was the latest clash between Paterson and lawmakers in an increasingly contentious Capitol.
"I support some of the measures in the legislation, but I really think that the legislation is a whitewash," Paterson said Thursday. "I didn't think it went far enough."
Senate Democratic majority spokesman Austin Shafran said Democrats ran on a platform of reform in 2008, when they took the majority from Republicans after decades of GOP control.
"We are delivering," he said. "At the end of the day, you have a tougher cop on the beat, you have greater disclosure for public officials, increased transparency and strengthened enforcement capabilities."
The Republican amendments sought to empower the attorney general, not an attorney hired by the majority, to investigate campaign finance violations and to rotate two counsel positions at the state Board of Elections between the parties.
The bill would require lawmakers to disclose more of their outside business interests and require them to say broadly how much outside income they earned. It also would force more disclosure by lobbyists, including which lawmakers they are trying to influence, and create an enforcer of campaign finance laws.
Paterson wants term limits, disclosure of law clients by lawmakers who are also practicing attorneys, and a method that avoids direct appointment of members to enforcement boards by the officials the boards would police.
