"Gov. Paterson scandal gives lawmakers chance to push bills on state police and domestic violence," - NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Three state lawmakers seized on Gov. Paterson's problems Sunday to push bills seemingly ripped from the scandal headlines.
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Eric Adams, both Brooklyn Democrats, said their new bill would crack down on mismanagement of the State Police.
Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) held a press conference to draw new attention to a domestic violence bill he first introduced in 2007.
Both bills play on the scandalous allegations that Paterson and the State Police abused their power by intervening in a domestic violence case after a woman obtained an order of protection against a top gubernatorial aide.
Jeffries said the bill he'll introduce this week would create a temporary commission "to investigate systematic misconduct, abuse of power and political interference with respect to the New York State Police."
Modeled after the Knapp Commission, which probed police corruption in the 1970s, the commission would have subpoena power and would report to the Legislature.
State troopers "have engaged in acts that undermine the very fabric of our democracy," Jeffries charged, referring to allegations in the Paterson, Spitzer and Pataki administrations.
In a press conference outside the state Supreme Court building in Lower Manhattan, Adams said the bill was not specifically intended to censure Paterson. But he said last week's news, which led the governor to abandon his election bid and prompted calls for his resignation, "was the straw that broke the camel's back."
"From Buffalo to Bedford-Stuyvesant, our state troopers have the responsibility to don gray uniforms, but they enforce laws that are black and white," Adams said.
Ortiz said his Sunday press conference on the City Hall steps had been scheduled for weeks and had nothing to do with Paterson.
Still, he said the latest scandal "will give us a better opportunity, a better shot to now get the bill the consensus that is needed in order to get it done in both houses and send it to the governor for a signature."
The Ortiz bill - called Erika's Law after Erika Delia, a woman murdered by an abusive ex-boyfriend - would force abusers slapped with protection orders to wear electronic monitoring devices.
The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island), has twice passed the Senate but has been stalled in the Assembly.
"I don't believe that the bill is aiming at any particular individual," Ortiz said, adding: "We hope that in this session, with everything that's been happening throughout the state and with everything that's been happening in Albany, that we can take a moment ... to honor this particular bill for Erika."
Three state lawmakers seized on Gov. Paterson's problems Sunday to push bills seemingly ripped from the scandal headlines.Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Eric Adams, both Brooklyn Democrats, said their new bill would crack down on mismanagement of the State Police.
Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) held a press conference to draw new attention to a domestic violence bill he first introduced in 2007.
Both bills play on the scandalous allegations that Paterson and the State Police abused their power by intervening in a domestic violence case after a woman obtained an order of protection against a top gubernatorial aide.
Jeffries said the bill he'll introduce this week would create a temporary commission "to investigate systematic misconduct, abuse of power and political interference with respect to the New York State Police."
Modeled after the Knapp Commission, which probed police corruption in the 1970s, the commission would have subpoena power and would report to the Legislature.
State troopers "have engaged in acts that undermine the very fabric of our democracy," Jeffries charged, referring to allegations in the Paterson, Spitzer and Pataki administrations.
In a press conference outside the state Supreme Court building in Lower Manhattan, Adams said the bill was not specifically intended to censure Paterson. But he said last week's news, which led the governor to abandon his election bid and prompted calls for his resignation, "was the straw that broke the camel's back."
"From Buffalo to Bedford-Stuyvesant, our state troopers have the responsibility to don gray uniforms, but they enforce laws that are black and white," Adams said.
Ortiz said his Sunday press conference on the City Hall steps had been scheduled for weeks and had nothing to do with Paterson.
Still, he said the latest scandal "will give us a better opportunity, a better shot to now get the bill the consensus that is needed in order to get it done in both houses and send it to the governor for a signature."
The Ortiz bill - called Erika's Law after Erika Delia, a woman murdered by an abusive ex-boyfriend - would force abusers slapped with protection orders to wear electronic monitoring devices.
The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island), has twice passed the Senate but has been stalled in the Assembly.
"I don't believe that the bill is aiming at any particular individual," Ortiz said, adding: "We hope that in this session, with everything that's been happening throughout the state and with everything that's been happening in Albany, that we can take a moment ... to honor this particular bill for Erika."
