Cuomo signs ethics bill, with few cheers

Albany -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an ethics reform package on Wednesday that would impose tight new restrictions on deep-pocketed outside spending groups in New York elections, but has also drawn criticism for sweeping new disclosure requirements it will place on nonprofit lobbying groups and donors.

Cuomo faced a midnight deadline to sign the bill, which was passed by the Legislature in the late-night hours of the final day of the legislative session in June. Many aspects of the measure received little or no public discussion before it was printed and voted upon.

The legislation does not rein in lawmakers' outside income or curb the so-called "LLC loophole" in election law, two of Cuomo's proposals offered in the wake of last year's trials of ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

There were few public words of praise for the package outside legislative leaders and the Cuomo administration.

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