Sentences with phrase «watchdog groups»

In Albany, the email policy has drawn loud criticism in recent weeks from government watchdog groups as well as some lawmakers, who have proposed legislation to stop the email purges.

Transparency and government watchdog groups issued a statement of support for Comptroller DiNapoli's call to prohibit state discretionary lump sum expenditures, like the $ 1.3 B State and Municipal Facilities Program.

Watchdog groups in Buffalo are skeptical of a new crowd control device that the Buffalo Police Department has purchased.

«The burden now is on the citizens groups and watchdog groups,» he said.

Government watchdog groups slammed CUNY's bypassing of bidding requirements and noted the Buffalo Billion bid - rigging scandal that has engulfed Gov. Cuomo's administration emanated from a contract managed by not - profit arm of SUNY, Fort Schuyler Management.

DiNapoli Report: «Eliminate State Discretionary Lump Sum Appropriations» Transparency and government watchdog groups issued a statement of support for Comptroller DiNapoli's call to prohibit state discretionary lump sum expenditures, like the $ 1.3 B State and Municipal Facilities Program.

The language in the Moreland Commission's report on legislative corruption is scathing, and validates what crusading journalists, watchdog groups and prosecutors have been saying for years: Albany is a place where laws are bought, and nothing will change until the «dysfunctional electoral and political systems» are reformed.

Political watchdog groups gathered outside the courthouse to call on lawmakers to toughen up rules for outside income, campaign financing, and budget transparency.

The legislation also has the support of good government watchdog groups like Reinvent Albany in New York City, whose executive director is John Kaehny.

Calls for ethics reforms — and a hard look at outside income — have been clamorous among government watchdog groups and in some quarters in Albany.

«We think there's an inherent corruption risk in having your state university system, which has a different set of rules than state agencies, be the one that's handing out enormous sums of money,» Kaehny said at a news conference in Albany where several watchdog groups called for the changes.

The recipients include some of the governor's biggest campaign contributors, generating calls among some government officials and watchdog groups to intensify oversight of state contracts, including by the comptroller's office and the attorney general.

But the commission, which includes appointees of Mr. Silver, did not give its staff the authority to investigate whether the Assembly staff had violated ethics laws, a restriction government watchdog groups see as a major shortcoming of the investigation.

A group of five government watchdog groups, within minutes of the verdict, released a laundry list of ethics, campaign finance and oversight laws that need to be strengthened in New York.

They did not take into account the residences of incumbent lawmakers, and their proposal drew praise from government watchdog groups for its compact, common - sense districts.

The inertia has deeply frustrated government watchdog groups who have repeatedly gathered in the Capitol to push for anticorruption measures, and did so again on Tuesday.

De Blasio posted a video on his City Hall Twitter account that featured two Broadway actors singing his praises and promoting his accomplishments, drawing criticism from government watchdog groups.

Court papers in the two cases suggest that testimony in Federal District Court will expose in granular detail what watchdog groups say is a seamy world where big money and politics have long intersected with government.

Government - watchdog groups expressed optimism that the conviction would serve as a spur for a more aggressive round of action, perhaps targeting legislators» income or the so - called L.L.C. loophole, which allows large unfettered contributions to political campaigns.

Government observers and watchdog groups have called for oversight of the city and state university systems to be expanded under the state Comptroller, not the Inspector General, including certain contract oversight powers that were stripped by Cuomo and the Legislature in 2011.

Government watchdog groups have widely condemned the deal, saying Cuomo gave away a powerful tool to combat corruption for too little in exchange.

But fiscal watchdog groups say the program is severely flawed, and the money could be better used on something else.

The Comptroller's legislation contains three of Five Clean Contracting Reforms Proposed by Watchdog Groups:

Other government watchdog groups say the alleged plot shows the ongoing need to remove money from Albany politics.

Critics, including budget watchdog groups, say STAR is inefficient and has simply led to padding of school budgets, not any real decrease in property taxes for homeowners.

It never would have entered my mind or that of other watchdog groups that JCOPE would have been the one to reveal that bribery scandal.»

But they are slammed by watchdog groups that say these types of donations offer a way around contribution limits from companies.

The new controversies, involving major contributors and lobbyists close to Mayor de Blasio, are particularly disturbing because watchdog groups like ours have long -LSB-...]

This will allow other government agencies and watchdog groups to easily combine political contribution data on the NYOG site with state and city contracting and public expenditure data.

Watchdog Groups to Senate and Assembly: Don't Come Home Without Passing Comprehensive Clean Contracting Reforms

While Gov. Andrew Cuomo has lauded the program as a departure from the secretive «pork barrel» spending of the past — «It's a waste of money, we did it for a lot of years, it failed,» he told Politico New York in February — the program has come scrutiny by lawmakers and fiscal watchdog groups as at best, overly optimistic and at worst, lacking oversight and tainted by scandals that have marred other economic initiatives, including the Buffalo Billion.

Six months after he gave that speech, campaign finance reform is stalled and a new public integrity commission he has championed is seen as flawed by watchdog groups.

Government watchdog groups have described the practice of prioritizing timeliness over policy details as «political theater.»

Mr. Lafayette has come under fire from political watchdog groups questioning how these donations are a conflict of interest.

Watchdog groups and the press had long been critical for recurrent evasions of transparency rules.

Silver's and Skelos» retrials will be followed closely by watchdog groups, which have long criticized Albany's culture of secrecy and influence peddling.

He could beat the Republicans over the head with the LLC loophole because the Democratic - controlled Assembly and Senate Democrats support closing the loophole, as do all of the watchdog groups and independent experts and editorial boards,» said Kaehny.

Watchdog groups again called on New York State Senate leader John Flanagan and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to pass comprehensive Clean Contracting legislation.

Four leading good government groups joined the City of New York and numerous environmental and consumer watchdog groups in asking the Public Service Commission to extend the public comment period before voting on awarding up to $ 7B in public subsidies to keep four Upstate nuclear plants operating.

Notably, the new law was opposed by the same watchdog groups that typically urge lawmakers to rein in campaign contribution limits.

Today in Albany, leading watchdog groups released a letter to Governor Cuomo asking him to include Clean Contracting reforms in any special session to renew 421 - a real estate tax abatements.

And the open campaign system includes tools that journalists, watchdog groups, or other parts of government can use to import data straight into their systems.

Albany, New York — Prominent budget and transparency watchdog groups today called on the legislative leaders to act on their public statements on clean contracting, and pass meaningful legislation in response to the largest bid - rigging scandal in state history.

Good government and fiscal watchdog groups had advocated for 5 major clean contracting reforms during the legislative session, with 78 different lawmakers across party and ideological lines signing on to legislation supporting at least one of the reforms.

(June 22, 2017, Albany) A coalition of prominent government watchdog groups say Governor Cuomo, Senate Leader Flanagan and Speaker Heastie have completely failed to address the huge problems revealed by last year's alleged rigging of $ 800m in state economic development contracts and that billions of state funds remain at risk for bid rigging and pay to play.

(June 22, 2017, Albany) A coalition of prominent government watchdog groups say Governor Cuomo, Senate Leader Flanagan and Speaker Heastie have completely failed to address the huge problems revealed by last year's alleged rigging of $ 800m in state economic development contracts and that... (read more)

Also at 11 a.m., leading government watchdog groups call on the state Legislature and governor to pass legislation that strengthens independent oversight over state contracting and a Database of Deals to ensure fair and transparent contract awards, outside state Senate chamber, 3rd Floor, state Capitol, Albany.

The balloon has finally burst after months of watchdog groups and journalists pointing to what appeared to be — and were — rigged state construction contracts in Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany.

Reinvent Albany and seven other transparency and fiscal watchdog groups wrote NY State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and asked him to increase his scrutiny of the state's $ 1.7 B in business tax credits.

Recommendations for Using Everyday Information Technology to Open Up Government At a news conference on Thursday, March 22 at 1 PM, leading civic and government watchdog groups will call on the Governor, Legislature, Attorney General, and Comptroller to use the explosion in affordable Information Technology to make NY State government more transparent, responsive, and accountable.