ANNA LEWIS FOR STATE SENATE

Media Contact: For Immediate Release:

Michael Oliva August 25th, 2010
(646) 283-5942

ANNA LEWIS RELEASES SECOND PHASE OF SENATE REFORMS

Candidate Aims to Pass Law Requiring Non-Profits to Disclose Member Item Expenditures

Anna Lewis, Attorney, and Candidate for State Senate in New York’s 31st District, is
releasing the second phase of her reform plan. It includes requiring the Senate to disclose all budget
expenditures online, establishing an Independent Budget Commission, making the job of senator a
full-time position, and passing a law requiring non-profits receiving member-items to publicly
disclose all related expenditures, online, and with the Legislature.

While speaking to a local newspaper, Ms. Lewis remarked, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
I want to shed more light on how the Senate spends our money, and how entities who receive money
from individual senators spend it. If senators are to enjoy the discretion of directing taxpayer
revenue towards specific causes and organizations, then the public should have the opportunity to
know how those organizations are using it.” She continued, “Slush funds and cronyism should have
no place in government, or in the non-profit word. Organizations granted the privilege of spending
our money must be held under the same scrutiny as the government that awards it to them.”

Ms. Lewis continued, “We should also require the State to disclose the details of its budget
online, in the same way New York City does. Disclosure, along with increased oversight, will go a
long way in making sure we are smarter about how we spend taxpayer dollars, and towards regaining
the public trust. Albany has become overrun by lobbyists and special interests that have created a
culture of criminality.” The candidate then re-iterated her ideas for strengthening the oversight
powers and activity of the Senate’s Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, which
she believes should be overhauled and taken under the wing of new leadership, “An investigative
committee that boasts Senators Diaz and Espada as leading members should either receive a total
makeover, or be completely disbanded in favor of a body with more teeth.” Ms. Lewis added her
desire to create an Independent Budget Commission responsible for reviewing all disclosures of both
the Legislature, and those who take advantage of their discretionary funding.

Another facet of Ms. Lewis’ reform plan is making the job of Senator a full time endeavor,
where legislators are barred from partaking in outside employment. She does not oppose pay raises
as a condition of this change, “Raising Senate salaries in order to attract a more qualified pool of
applicants makes sense, and won’t make or break our budget. What’s most important is preventing
legislators from making private profits as a result of the very laws they create.” She provided one
caveat, “If we are to pay legislators more, we must do everything we can to make government more
efficient, and fiscally responsible, and pass budgets that are truly balanced.” She again suggested
increased financial oversight as a way of doing so, as well as reform the State’s pension system, and
finding a more proportionate balance between taxes levied on Co-Ops and condos.”

An Attorney for 26 years, Anna Lewis serves as a prosecutor with New York State’s Health
Department, where she prosecutes physicians for professional misconduct, including cases involving
insurance fraud, negligence and the sexual abuse of patients. She resides on the Upper West Side.

“30”