ALBANY (AP) — Local attorney and outspoken New York ethics board member Ravi Batra was taken to the hospital yesterday after a hearing where he took a stand calling for politicians and lobbyists to be more accountable to the public.
Information on what prompted the ambulance call and Batra's condition weren't available at press time yesterday.
Batra, often seen in the Brooklyn courts and at local legal events, is the representative of the Senate's Democratic minority and has been an active member of the new Joint Commission on Public Ethics.
At Thursday's meeting in Albany, Batra pushed to require public disclosure of lobbying group donors' names.
The Brooklyn attorney said he was "stunned" to read press accounts that gambling interests gave $2 million to a lobbying group that supports Gov. Andrew Cuomo as he pushed for expanded casino gambling.
Batra is no stranger to the news, once suing the producers of “Law & Order” for airing an episode that featured a corrupt lawyer that Batra claimed was meant to be him.
Additional reporting by Ryan Thompson of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
