It seems every candidate for statewide office in New York this year is talking about the need to reform state government.

But there's one candidate, in particular, who could be considered a major figure in the derailing of the last great effort to reform state government in 1987:

State Attorney General candidate Andrew Cuomo.

These stories are often considered ancient history, but it might be worth remembering the background of what happened, and what didn't happen, in 1987. In the wake of the New York City Parking Violations Bureau scandals, a series of scandals were uncovered in Albany surrounding the state Legislature, and the creation of "no-show" positions. Taxpayers were billed for employees who did no government work, but whose job was to help elect and re-elect incumbent legislators, and there were calls for reform.

When then-Gov. Mario Cuomo sought to pass reform measures, and create an ethics commission, there was a mighty backlash. News stories started showing up in tabloids and elsewhere questioning whether the governor's son, Andrew, had been involved in questionable lobbying practices involving milk price controls and construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

Eventually, as these stories bubbled to the surface, the tougher reform proposals were watered down. And Mario Cuomo's plan to hire high-profile lawyer Joseph Califano to head an ethics commission faltered.

A New York Times editorial from April 11, 1987 explained why Califano's chairmanship of the ethics commission was derailed:

Mr. Califano hardly singled out the Legislature. He told the Governor that the commission should, among other things, look at the representation of the milk industry by the law firm to which his son, Andrew Cuomo, belongs.

(via Times' paid archive.)

What did Califano say? In his book, "Inside: A Public and Private Life," Califano excoriated the then-governor's actions in creating the ethics commission. Califano wrote that he quickly believed he understood Mario Cuomo's motivations:

I now believed he had cut a deal with the legislature and wanted to use me as a sort of beard. I was not about to provide cover for what I considered a corrupt deal in which the legislature would get a pass and Cuomo would get a new chair who would not investigate whether his son was involved in matters involving milk pricing and the Javits Center.

For a more complete backdrop, consider that Cuomo at the time was a leading Democratic contender for president in the 1988 election, and the state's and New York City's corruption scandals were the biggest running stories in the state.

So did Cuomo cut a deal with lawmakers to spare a full-blown probe into his son Andrew's lobbying activities, in exchange for giving up tough reform measures to reign in an out-of-control government?

Only those directly involved will ever know. But, at the time, nobody in the world wanted to reform state government more than Mario Cuomo. And, to this day, nobody has ever shown that Andrew Cuomo (who clearly passed FBI background checks after he was nominated for HUD secretary) ever did anything wrong or untoward.

But, also to this day, state government has never been effectively reformed. Its last, best chance was in 1987.