Assemblyman Kaminsky Signs “Clean Conscience Pledge,” Calls on Other Candidates to Join Him

LongIsland.com

Senate Candidate Joins Call to Limit Outside Income, Close the LLC Loophole, and Increase Transparency for Discretionary Spending.

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Long Island, NY - March 7th, 2016 - Today, Assemblyman and former federal prosecutor Todd Kaminsky took the next step towards cleaning up Albany by signing the “Clean Conscience Pledge.”

The Pledge, unveiled by Common Cause New York, Citizens Union, and New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG), calls on Albany to significantly limit outside income, close the LLC loophole, and increase transparency to eliminate conflicts of interest in discretionary spending.  To date, 17 State Senators and 9 Assemblymembers have signed the Pledge.

As the former lead prosecutor of the federal government’s local public corruption unit, Kaminsky has made ending corruption in New York a central tenant of both his time in the Assembly and his campaign for Dean Skelos’s former State Senate seat. Kaminsky has already proposed banning outside income, increasing oversight of local government contracting, imposing criminal penalties for corrupt politicians, and making it illegal to lie to a District Attorney investigator.

“Even after multiple corruption convictions, Albany continues to resist reforms at every turn,” said Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky.

“Any candidate running to replace Dean Skelos has an obligation to push for simple reforms that will clean up New York’s government. The taxpayers deserve honest, purposeful representation and an end to a government that looks out for the politically connected. Today, I proudly pledge to continue pushing these meaningful reforms because I will not rest until Albany politicians start working for the people, once and for all.”

“Corruption has a cost,” Assemblyman Kaminsky continued. “Corruption robs taxpayers of their hard-earned dollars, robs school districts of needed resources, robs roads and transit projects from critical funding, and robs our state of its honor. We can end corruption in New York, but it starts with taking tough, critical steps so that elected officials serve the taxpayers, and not themselves.”

As of this date, Republican candidate Chris McGrath had not signed the “Clean Conscience Pledge.” In fact, McGrath, in previous statements, has made it clear that he opposed banning outside income and, if elected, plans to continue taking outside income, himself.

The 9th Senate District seat became automatically vacant upon Skelos’s conviction in December on charges of bribery, extortion and conspiracy. The Special Election to replace Skelos will be held on April 19th.