New York, NY- The Brennan Center for Justice issued the following statement today after Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed numerous ethics and election reforms - including a unitary independent ethics commission and public financing of elections -in his first State of the State speech this afternoon.

New York–Spending on state Supreme Court elections has more than doubled in the past decade, from $83.3 million in 1990-1999 to $206.9 million in 2000-2009, and deep-pocketed special interests play a dominant role in choosing state jurists, according to a report released today.

New policy proposal based on British law shows congressional leaders how to give corporate shareholders a voice in election spending.

Today, the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in Citizens United v. FEC to determine whether it should overturn 60 years of precedent prohibiting corporations from spending shareholder funds supporting or opposing a candidate in a federal election.