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Department of Law
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271 212-416-8060
For Immediate Release:
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Department of Law
The State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
518-473-5525
January 04, 2007
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ATTORNEY GENERAL ANDREW CUOMO ANNOUNCES
ACTIONS ON MEMBER ITEMS
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AG Will Review Approximately 6,000 Member Items Being Contracted this Year
Proposes Criteria to Ensure Future Member Items Meet Legal Requirements
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Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today announced that the Office
of Attorney General will initiate a formal review of the approximately
6,000 legislative member items which will be contracted this
year and seek to recover any misspent funds. The review will
ensure they meet the constitutional standard of fulfilling a
legal public purpose. Cuomo also laid out a four-prong review
which he proposed should be applied to future member items to
ensure the legality of the grants and legal use of taxpayer
dollars.
The taxpayers of New York must be assured that their
hard-earned dollars are used for legitimate public purposes-period,
said Attorney General Cuomo. Without this guarantee, the
public trust in our state government will continue to erode.
It is time to restore this breach and we will not rest until
we return our state government to one of the highest integrity.
In a statement he delivered at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute
of Government in Albany, the Attorney General laid out a comprehensive
agenda of three action items that the Office will undertake
to help bring accountability and transparency to the system
in which taxpayer dollars are awarded throughout the state.
The Attorney General announced he will:
Direct the Office to review all of the approximately
6,000 member items being contracted this year to ensure they
meet the legal mandate of having a public purpose. Cuomo said
no contract will be approved by the Attorney Generals
office unless it explicitly states the public purpose for
which the funds will be used. The Attorney General will seek
to recover any state funds wrongfully disbursed under the
Tweed law or other statutory authority.
Propose that all future member item grants meet four
criteria: 1) a bona fide legal public purpose for the grant;
2) effective administration by a state agency pursuant to
a contract with specific terms and conditions which can be
measured and controlled; 3) compliance in actual grant implementation;
and 4) full disclosure of all grants throughout the budget
process.
Expand and elevate the status of the Public Integrity
Unit. Cuomo will elevate the Public Integrity bureau to a
Special Deputy Attorney General level and will increase the
number of individuals designated to working in the bureau.
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