Mayor calls off hearing on tweeder protection bill

Bloomberg rethink on income bill
BY FRANK LOMBARDI
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Mayor Bloomberg is rethinking a bill that would let public officials keep their private incomes secret.

A hearing on the bill, which was to be introduced at the mayor's request, was suddenly called off Tuesday at the request of Bloomberg's aides.

"We wanted to take another look at the issues and the bill before moving forward," said mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser.

Some 7,000 elected and appointed city officials now are required to file annual disclosure forms that reveal in only broad categories the dollar value of their private income and investments.

The categories range from (A) $1,000 to under $5,000 to (G) $500,000 and over.

The bill would eliminate even that skimpy requirement and instead require covered officials - like councilmembers with outside jobs - merely to acknowledge the income, without revealing its monetary value.

Good-government groups like Citizens Union and the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) have criticized the bill for watering down disclosure requirements. And there's been some grumbling from councilmembers and within the Bloomberg administration.