Assemblyman Christopher Friend (R,C,I – Big Flats) will be fighting to include the executive branch and Gov. Andrew Cuomo into whatever ethics reform package the Legislature takes up this year.

We have a governor who is within the purview of United States Attorney Preet Bharara, and he’s lecturing us on ethics reform as if he’s above reproach on the matter. It’s outlandish,” Friend said. “We should be discussing all inclusive ethics reform that insures a clean government from top to bottom. Gov. Cuomo’s fight to keep himself out of any potential ethics reform is a dangerous precedent for his office to be setting. I would suggest that the governor be worried not just about Attorney Bharara, but also of his place in history of placing the executive above the law.”

Assemblyman Friend sponsors the Public Officers Accountability Act (A. 4617), a stringent ethics proposal put forward by the Assembly Minority Conference in an effort to combat breaches of the public trust committed by elected officials.