Speaking to reporters in Buffalo today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said an ethics overhaul for the executive branch, which Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos suggested to Liz yesterday, isn’t necessary.

“We have all sorts of ethics for the executive branch,” Cuomo said. “You haven’t had the issues on the executive that you’ve had on the legislative, and this is about getting the state of New York a Legislature they can believe in.”

“Now the Legislature’s point is they can police themselves. I don’t agree with that. I was attorney general and I sat there and we did case after case after case.”

Granted, there’s been a deluge of corruption cases involving state lawmakers in both parties with more legislators leaving office under an ethical cloud than losing re-election.

However, the governor himself as attorney general looked into ethical indiscretions involving governors, most notably Eliot Spitzer and the “Troopergate” affair.

And then there was David Paterson, whose snake-bit administration became engulfed in scandals that included receiving freebie World Series tickets and Paterson becoming personally involved in a domestic-abuse incident between an aide and his girlfriend.

Skelos told Capital Tonight that he is considering the introduction of ethics guidelines for the governor’s office and executive branch.

Cuomo is touring the state drumming up support for a tax cap, same-sex marriage legalization and new ethics rules. The governor has said legislators should provide greater detailed accounts of their outside income and list clients who do business with the state.

The governor told reporters today that legislators have said they can “police themselves” which is inadequate, adding: “People want to know who the legislators represent.”

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