Assemblyman Christopher S. Friend (R,C,I-Big Flats) took part in a press conference alongside his Assembly Minority colleagues stressing the necessity for ethics reform in the legislature. The conference proposed 17 measures, including term limits for leadership, increased publishing of votes online, and recording and webcasting of committee meetings, all of which were defeated on the floor by the Assembly Majority.

“We hear a lot of lip service about reform across the aisle, and today, they had a chance to act,” Friend said. “They voted against every single measure we brought to the floor. Why can’t we broadcast and record committee meetings? Why shouldn’t these votes be published? Why shouldn’t each member be allowed to bring one bill to the floor every term? The Majority has learned nothing from the scandal-plagued year we lived through in 2015. We had a chance to reform our chamber for the better today – to make it more transparent, and distribute the power more evenly among the members. The Majority killed it. New York deserves better.”