Ethics Reform Fight Finds Aubertine, Griffo In Middle

Two North Country state senators were caught in a political crossfire when Republicans and Democrats decided to spar over a renewed effort at ethics reform.

Republicans planned Tuesday to attach an amendment barring legislators from taking campaign cash from members of the Commission on Public Integrity, which oversees lobbying activity, to a bill sponsored by Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent. That bill would prohibit trustees at state community colleges, currently exempt from state limits on gifts, from accepting gifts of more than $75.

But Democratic leaders tabled the bill to avoid the amendment, and then accused their counterparts of "stunning hypocrisy" for offering an amendment that they say runs contrary to Republicans' previous behavior.

As evidence, Democrats listed $232,345 in contributions made to the GOP by members of the now-defunct State Commission on Investigations. That agency, a predecessor to the Public Integrity Commission, was in charge of investigating alleged improprieties by legislators.

In the spat, Sen. Joseph A. Griffo, R-Rome, was singled out for $5,565 in contributions he received from two former Commission on Investigations members.

Rayan S. Aguam, Mr. Griffo's spokesman, said his boss "didn't have any say on whether those two got to the positions they were at" because both benefactors were appointed to the commission before the senator was elected in November 2006.

"There was no quid pro quo," he said.

One donor, G. Kevin Ludlow, is a lifelong friend of Mr. Griffo and a district resident, Mr. Aguam said.

The spokesman also said his boss supports the amendment his party leaders tried to introduce Tuesday that would prohibit statewide elected officials, legislators and candidates for statewide office or the Legislature from taking contributions from Public Integrity commissioners or employees. The amendment came after a Monday report in the New York Daily News that said four commissioners had given $5,000 since 2007 to campaigns of Democrats running for statewide office.

Andrew G. Mangione, Mr. Aubertine's spokesman, said the "hostile amendment" attached to his boss's bill "was too narrowly focused to be taken seriously and not germane to the senator's bill, which deals only with the gift allowances for community college boards of trustees, not campaign contributions or legislative ethics reform."