Chris Bragg is the Albany bureau chief at New York Focus. He has done investigative reporting on New York government and politics since 2009, most recently at The Buffalo News and Albany Times Union.
In a state known for scandals, Albany’s ethics enforcement has long been criticized.
Our reporting spurred the disclosure of millions in spending and illuminated the networks behind the Bronx political machine.
A Bronx political firm close to the borough’s Democratic party chair, Jamaal Bailey, is cashing in on local civil court races.
Last month, we asked five questions about what would happen in the election. Here are the answers.
New financial disclosures show when Mujica began consulting for the Greater New York Hospital Association.
It’s not clear what the money was used for in a county where Democrats outnumber Republicans ten-to-one.
The disclosures included over a dozen missing or incomplete reports covering a period of more than four years.
Here are the five topics we’re watching with the elections less than three weeks away.
Foreign governments have long courted local officials. Prosecutors are starting to go after them.
Rebecca Lamorte was let go by her employer in June, prompting the Assembly Speaker to place an upset call to her boss.
A secret group of Senate Democrats helped decide the fate of nearly 650 bills over the last month. Just don’t ask any questions.
Legislation to accelerate New York’s casino process copies a lobbying firm’s draft version nearly word for word.
Asked for records related to top politicians’ use of a Buffalo Bills suite, Empire State Development cited potential interference with a law enforcement investigation.
You haven’t heard of it, and your state senator might not have either. The Working Rules group helps determine the fate of hundreds of bills at the end of each legislative session.
New York’s Equal Rights Amendment would enshrine the right to abortion in the state. A judge threw it off the ballot for the fall, but an appeal is expected.
Low-wage manual laborers can sue to make their bosses pay them weekly. Hochul’s late-breaking budget addition may undermine that right.
New York’s transparency watchdog found that the ethics commission violated open records law by redacting its own recusal forms.
Guidelines limiting gifts of taxpayer resources have “no teeth whatsoever,” according to good government watchdog.
As the state legislature considers a bill to change warranty payments, unions join their bosses to make car companies pay more.
As the relationship was coming to light, Heastie returned $5,000 in campaign cash to a labor group from which he’d recused himself.