Too late on show and tell

Today is the deadline when all state officials file their personal financial disclosures, although some, like Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Attorney General Tish James, did it already (their forms were received last week). But while DiNapoli and James think they were early, they were actually three months late because their forms were due Feb. 27, 10 days after being designated by the state Democratic Party convention to run again.

Gov. Hochul’s ethics disclosure papers were due on Feb. 27, ditto for former lieutenant governor candidate Brian Benjamin. While May 15 (or May 16 since the day falls on Sunday) is the deadline for incumbents under Public Officers Law §73-a, that same law requires all candidates to submit within 10 days of becoming a candidate. There is no exception for people seeking reelection.

The problem arose when the September primary was moved to June in 2019. Before then, party conventions were in May or June, and petitions to run for office were due in July, so the 10-day clock on candidacies always came after May 15.

But this year, the Democratic convention was Feb. 17 and Republicans met on March 1, making their forms due by March 11. GOP gubernatorial contender Lee Zeldin, LG candidate Alison Esposito, AG hopeful Michael Henry and wannabe comptroller Paul Rodriguez paid attention and filed before the deadline. Good for them.

As petitioning ended April 7, April 17 was the financial disclosure deadline for everyone else. Only Democratic LG candidate Ana Maria Archila was timely. A bit late was her rival Diana Reyna as well as Democratic gubernatorial candidates Tom Suozzi and Jumaane Williams. GOP contender Harry Wilson was three weeks late, and there’s still nada from Andrew Giuliani and Rob Astorino. As Hochul’s new running mate Antonio Delgado was put on the ballot on May 3, his form was due Friday.

And we bet that few legislators submitted by April 17, thinking their deadline was today.

This happened because Albany didn’t reconcile the two calendars, the standard sloppy way they do everything. Fix it maybe?