Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that during a political battle over Gov. Kathy Hochul's initial nomination of a new chief judge of the Court of Appeals, a loophole in lobbying laws was exposed. But now Hochul has vetoed bipartisan legislation intended to close that loophole. After Hochul nominated Justice Hector D. LaSalle as the top jurist on the state’s highest court a gap in state law was revealed that allowed unregistered lobbying in judicial nominations and other top state offices. The law Hochul struck down would have put lobbying of judicial nominees in line with other attempts to influence state government and elections. Democrats and Republicans supported the bill. Hochul’s memo explaining her veto of the bill said it “would broadly expand the definition of reportable lobbying to include the nomination of a person to state office or their confirmation by the state Senate.... This bill would impose significant new reporting requirements on people who might not already be reporters, retroactive to (Jan. 1). Additionally, this would impose implementation costs not already accounted for in the state financial plan.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.