Seaford, NY - October 21, 2016 - John Brooks today unveiled an innovative and comprehensive ethics reform plan which will take meaningful steps to clean up all levels of government and restore the public’s trust their elected officials. Despite overwhelming support for clean government and the recent arrests of both Ed Mangano and John Venditto on corruption charges, current Senator Venditto has repeatedly blocked efforts to pass any meaningful ethics reform legislation.
“For too long, corrupt officials have lined their pockets at the expense of Long Island taxpayers, and people like Senator Venditto have stood by and let it happen,” John Brooks said. “We deserve public servants who will fight to clean up government, not turn a blind eye to corruption or benefit from insider deal-making. Unlike my opponent, Venditto, I am going to fight to ensure all levels of government remain accountable to their constituents.”
John announced his support for a series of ethics reform measures that will fight corruption,, end the pay-to-play culture in local governments, increase transparency, hold elected officials more accountable and take meaningful steps to finally restore New Yorkers’ trust in state government.
The ethics reform measures supported by John Brooks include:
- Barring Gifts To Public Officials: Individuals, special interests and corporations have been able to provide gifts to politicians on the local, county and state level with minimal oversight or regulation, and that has helped result in major corruption scandals and abuses of power. In fact, the recent Mangano/Venditto ethics scandal illustrates how gifts and services could be given to elected officials in exchange for lucrative government contracts and assistance. To address this crisis, and to prevent further unethical behavior within county governments, John’s initiative will end that practice immediately.
- Increased Transparency And Tough Restrictions On Campaign Account Spending: John’s proposal would require that all donations made to elected officials from the local to state level be property documented to ensure bribes in the form of campaign donations and gifts are no longer accepted. John’s plan will also restrict what elected officials can use campaign funds or matching donations for, to end the practice of politicians uses these accounts as personal ATMs.
- Barring the Use of Campaign Money for Criminal Defense: This common sense plan from John Brooks would block campaign funds from being used for attorney’s fees for defending against criminal or civil prosecution for alleged violations of any local, state or federal law. As more and more Long Island Republican officials are arrested for violating the public’s trust, John wants to ensure that these politicians won’t be able to defend themselves with the same funds and gifts that contributed to their crimes in the first place.
- Closing Campaign Finance Loopholes: This proposal from John Brooks will close a loophole that currently allows special interests and wealthy individuals to circumvent the cap on campaign giving and unduly influence elections by using limited liability companies (LLCs) to donate massive amounts of money to candidates. This loophole helped contribute to the Dean Skelos corruption scandal and yet Venditto has refused to do anything to address this crisis.
For years, polls have shown conclusively that Long Island voters are deeply disappointed with the corruption crisis impacting their communities and state government. Additionally, with the arrests of Mangano and Venditto, the need for ethics reforms has never been clearer. Despite these facts and the overwhelming will of the Long Island voters, Senator Venditto has refused to support any meaningful ethics reform, and has clearly become part of the problem with corruption in government.
“The simple reality is, we need action to clean up government, and that won’t happen so long as Senator Venditto remains in office. I will fight tirelessly to restore the public’s trust and end the disreputable and illegal actions taken by politicians on the town, county and state level,” John Brooks concluded.
John E. Brooks has given a lifetime of service to the community, now he wants to serve Long Islanders as a State Senator. John is providing real solutions to the problems we face on Long Island. He is a lifelong resident of Seaford, NY, an ex Fire Chief, a husband, a father, and an Grandfather. Elect John E. Brooks on November 8th. Friend John on Facebook.