NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday proposed three new laws aimed at stopping corruption by elected officials, after federal prosecutors brought two criminal cases against officials in the state last week.
The so-called Public Trust Act would create laws to punish bribery, scheming to corrupt the government and failure to report corruption, he told a joint news conference with several chief prosecutors from the New York City area.
Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, brought the two cases last week. Cuomo thanked him, adding that he wanted to empower the state's district attorneys to better enforce public corruption.
"I want to strike while the iron is hot. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste," Cuomo said, referring to the scandals of last week.
On Thursday, New York State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was charged with corruption on suspicion of taking more than $22,000 in bribes in exchange for official acts, and another state assemblyman was forced to resign.
On Tuesday, in a separate case, Democratic New York State Senator Malcolm Smith was arrested and charged with trying to buy a slot on the Republican ticket in New York City's mayoral race, in what prosecutors said was his central role in a series of bribery schemes that reflected pervasive corruption in New York politics.
Five other politicians - three Republicans and two Democrats - were also arrested and charged with collectively accepting more than $100,000 of bribes in meetings that took place in parked cars, hotel rooms and state offices, according to court papers.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; editing by Gerald E. McCormick, G Crosse)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/york-proposes-laws-against-public-corruption-172249194.html
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