Common Cause NY discusses lack of transparency and openness in Assembly Speaker replacement process, urges Governor and legislators to take up ethics and rules reforms this session.

Today, representatives of New York's leading good government watchdog groups, the Brennan Center for Justice, Citizens Union, Common Cause/NY, the League of Women Voters and NYPIRG, responding to the disappointing process on display this past week leading to the selection of a new Assembly Speaker, urged the members of the Assembly to use this historic opportunity to pass long-overdue reforms that would transform how it conducts business.

The arrest of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver by federal authorities for undisclosed income further reveals the crucial role the Moreland Commission played in bringing corruption in New York State government to light.

Today, civil rights, civil liberties and good government groups sent a letter to Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders in Albany calling for open public hearings and a transparent and participatory legislative process following the failure of a Staten Island grand jury to indict the police officer whose chokehold resulted in the death of Eric Garner

Responding to a suit brought by a good-government group, a trial judge has ruled the State Board of Elections cannot use the word “independent” in describing a new redistricting commission on the November ballot.

In a victory for the segment of good-government groups opposed to the compromise constitutional amendment on redistricting, state Supreme Court Judge Patrick McGrath has ruled that the redistricting commission that would be created by the proposed change “cannot be described as ‘independent’ when eight out of the ten members are the handpicked appointees of the legislative leaders and the two additional members are essentially political appointees by proxy.”