Governor Paterson must have a thing for the hard sell. For over a year he's fought with legislators over spending cuts as he tries to tackle the state's financial mess. Now he's taking on ethics reform, including a system to publicly finance state elections.

He'll announce the initiative during his State of the State speech tomorrow. This morning, however, a group of the governor's aides gave a briefing to explain his proposal, dubbed the Reform Albany Act. The legislation, said one official, is still under development.

A new state ethics commission, which would replace the Commission on Public Integrity, is a key piece of the governor's proposal. The idea, say the aides, is to establish a body that's independent of political influence. The members would be appointed by a special commission. The members of the commission would be appointed by the Senate and Assembly majorities and minorities as well as by state officials.

The new commission would enforce a mix of conflict-of-interest matters and financial reporting by state elected officials, as well as campaign finance law and open meetings law. The state Board of Elections would continue to exist, but its focus would be on making sure elections are conducted properly.

Another key piece of Paterson's proposal is a switch to public campaign financing. The legislation would establish a four-to-one matching system and would carry an estimated $30 million price tag in 2012. It would ban corporate contributions and place limits on contributions from LLC's and LLP's. It would also lower contribution limits: the new ceiling would be $250 if the candidate is participating in the public financing system, $1,000 if the candidate isn't.

Among the other aspects of the legislation are increased reporting requirements for elected officials and lobbyists, as well as term limits for elected officials.

If Paterson's really serious about this package, he'll probably have a tough fight ahead of him. All of Albany's up for election this year, which makes for some unpredictable dynamics. Also worth taking into account: others have tried to push similar laws, but the collective political will just hasn't been there.