It's a day that ends in Y this week, so someone must be getting indicted. The Justice Department has charged former New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Spargo with attempted extortion and federal program bribery.

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-N.Y) nomination as Secretary of State has opened up a vacancy with no dearth of applicants in the Empire State. In the Washington Post today, the reporter and his sources handicap the race. And what was one of the requirements? Fundraising prowess. To be more exact, the candidate must be able to raise an estimated $35 million for their 2010 election to keep the seat.

It’s down to the wire and candidates on both sides of the political aisle are trading barbs on corruption and campaign contributions.

Citizen Action of New York has just released a new report on the campaign contributions flowing from the health insurance industry to members of the New York Senate, the Republican caucus in particular. The report concludes that this money is obstructing progress on regulating insurance rates and provides further evidence for the need to move to a Clean Elections model of full public financing for legislative elections.

New York Governor David Paterson (D) took some heat when he said he wouldn't push for a Clean Elections public financing bill this year. He said it was for budget reasons but Bethany Foster of The Brennan Center wonders whether that budget shortfall was created by the kind of politics Clean Elections would help combat.

Hey, we know it's hectic when you start a new job but it seems that in all the chaos of assuming office following Eliot Spitzer's rather hasty departure New York Governor David Paterson forgot his reform agenda. The New York Times reminds him what it looked like.