Freshman State Senator Gustavo Rivera knows a little bit about the public’s high level of mistrust in their politicians. In fact, he rode that mistrust to victory over his predecessor Pedro Espada, Jr. last fall in the Democratic primary.

Such was the state of the northwest Bronx’s 33rd Senate District seat, which Rivera now represents.

The now infamous Espada is awaiting trial for allegedly embezzling money from his network of Bronx nonprofit health clinics. His two-year term that ended in December was marked by a handful of investigations into possible ethical and legal violations. Espada did not come into office without a checkered ethical record, but he managed to defeat his own predecessor, Efrain Gonzalez, by repeatedly pointing out the dark cloud of federal corruption charges hanging over his head. (Gonzalez is now serving prison time for stealing state funds meant for local nonprofit groups.)

“I heard it from people all the time while I was campaigning last summer,” Rivera said during a recent interview. “They don’t trust us as legislators.”

Rivera says the current crop of legislators in Albany is attempting to mend this strained relationship between the public and their representatives in government.

Weeks before the furious finale in Albany that brought the legalization of gay marriage, slightly strengthened rent regulation and a property tax cap, the state legislature passed an ethics reform package that freshman Rivera says will help the healing process along.

Part of that package includes language Rivera introduced as a bill in January that would require lawmakers to disclose outside income. (State legislators are considered part-time employees and are free to hold other jobs.)

The public should know where their representatives are getting their outside income from, Rivera said in a statement announcing the deal in early June, “especially if they are being paid by special interests, companies or individuals whose interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of their constituents and their community.”

The deal also sets up a new Joint Commission on Public Ethics to police both the executive and legislative branches, requires legislators who are lawyers to reveal their clients, creates a database of all lobbyists and contractors doing business with the state and penalizes any lawmaker convicted of a felony by depriving them of their pension.

Good government groups said the reforms, especially with regard to disclosure, were commendable. But many, including the New York Times editorial board, trashed the new ethics commission as “so deeply flawed in its structure as to be wholly ineffective.”
Rivera admitted the reforms won’t solve all of Albany’s problems and dysfunction, but said it’s a step in the right direction.

And for those concerned about Gonzalez or Espada (if he’s convicted), don’t worry, their pensions are safe. The law only applies to future legislators.