Gov. Cuomo's Ethics Reform Proposal Has Many Critics

Ryan Hutchins reports:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is moving forward with an aggressive effort to expand his reach at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, proposing as part of his state budget a new inspector general of his own choosing, as well as new latitude for the governor to name commissioners to the agency’s board.

The legislation is part of a larger ethics reform bill that arises from procurement scandals that "ensnared several members of [the governor's] inner circle" as well as Bridgegate, according to Hutchins.

Critics of the plan, however, are concerned about granting Cuomo additional power over the Port Authority. In addition to critics in the New Jersey State Legislature, academics have also chimed in opposition to the proposal. Hutchins quotes Jameson Doig, a professor at Princeton University and author of Empire on the Hudson. In Doig's on words, the proposed legislation, is "worse than anything Christie has done…"