Kearns: Silver's sentence puts focus on ethics reform

When Assemblyman Mickey Kearns read an ethics report on then-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s efforts to cover up sexual harassment complaints lodged against then-Assemblyman Vito Lopez, he left his colleagues and became the only Democrat to not caucus with the majority.

With Silver convicted of corruption and forced out of the Legislature, Kearns, a Buffalo lawmaker, finally rejoined his fellow Assembly Democrats last month.

This week the assemblyman watched, along with the rest of New York’s political world, as Silver was handed a 12-year prison sentence and a $1.75 million fine, a punishment he said he found fitting.

“I thought it was a very fair and just sentence,” Kearns said.

Kearns said he thought that the fine would “counter balance” the money Silver will continue to earn from his government pension while in prison.

“It’s a sign to taxpayers that we definitely need reform, ethics reform, when it comes to pension forfeiture,” Kearns said. “If you’re an elected official and you breach the public trust you should not have your pension.”

To that end Kearns is co-sponsoring a bill put forth by Assemblyman David Buchwald that would strip convicted lawmakers of their pensions. He has also sponsored his own bill that would put term limits on legislators, the governor, the state comptroller and the state attorney general.

The assemblyman said there has been robust discussion on ethics reform this session, at least in his chamber. But those discussions took a back seat, which he attributed to a busy budget season. Now that the Legislature is back in session, and with much of the news cycle driven by reports on corruption - Silver’s sentence, the upcoming sentencing of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam, the investigations into fundraising by Mayor Bill de Blasio and the probe into economic development projects involving some of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s closest allies - the time is right to pass real, effective reforms, Kearns said.

“Now is the time to do ethics reform and I really think it’s going to happen,” he said. “I really do. You’re going to see ethics reform in the next couple of weeks.”