The Democratic candidate for governor, Eliot Spitzer, signaled yesterday that his administration would take a harder line on the ethical conduct of state public officials, including those in his own party.

Speaking out on two sensitive issues for Albany Democrats, Mr. Spitzer suggested to reporters that he might push for changes to state law that would require the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, who also is employed by a plaintiffs’ law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, to disclose his tax returns.

Mr. Spitzer also urged a Queens assemblyman, Brian McLaughlin, the labor leader who was charged this week with stealing $2.2 million from the state government, unions, and other groups including a Little League organization, to step down from the Legislature, where he has served since 1992. Mr. McLaughlin is not seeking re-election, and his term ends on December 31.

A reporter yesterday asked Mr. Spitzer if he thought that the public has the right to know how much Mr. Silver earns for his work at Weitz & Luxenberg, where he has been employed as an of counsel attorney since 2002. Mr. Spitzer said he wouldn’t “lecture” people about what they ought to do, but added: “I reveal my tax returns every year. I think it’s the right thing to do. I’ve done it since I was running, which goes back 12 years now.”

He said if he wins the November 7 election against Republican John Faso, he would be “speaking to the entire issue of reform, laying out a whole series of mandates and things that I think we should do differently.”

It’s customary for statewide candidates for office to release their tax returns. State law does not require lawmakers, who are designated as parttime workers, to disclose outside income to the public. They must submit annual financial disclosure forms to the legislative ethics committee, which is controlled by the Legislature.

Lawmakers specify categories of value for each source of outside income — the highest lettered category applies to $250,000 or more — information that is redacted from public copies.

Critics of Mr. Silver, the most powerful Democrat in the Legislature, have pressed him to disclose his legal earnings, arguing that the money could pose a conflict of interest. Those pushing for disclosure note that Mr. Silver has frequently blocked the passage of tort reform legislation.

In his filing for calendar year 2005, Mr. Silver described his work at the firm as “limited practice of law in the principal subject area of personal injury claims on behalf of individual clients and of counsel to law firm.”

Told of Mr. Spitzer’s comments, Eileen Larrabee, a spokeswoman for Mr. Silver, said, “The speaker is in complete compliance with the state’s financial disclosure statute.”

Mr. Spitzer also took a tough stand on the fate of Mr. McLaughlin. Asked if he thought Mr. McLaughlin ought to resign from the Assembly given the severity of the charges against him, Mr. Spitzer said: “My suspicion is that he should … I’m not sure what their protocol is. Obviously, if you read the indictment, you think that it’s something he should seriously consider.”

At the same time, the Spitzer campaign is showing signs of freezing out another Democratic statewide candidate, comptroller Alan Hevesi, who is being investigated by the state ethics commission for failing to reimburse taxpayers for using a state employee as a chauffeur for his ailing wife.

After his failure to reimburse the state was discovered last month, Mr. Hevesi repaid the state more than $80,000, an amount he calculated as the value of the employee’s service.

The attorney general and the comptroller have not campaigned together in weeks, and Mr. Hevesi was not scheduled to attend last night’s Alfred E. Smith dinner. Mr. Spitzer, who used to mention with pride that Mr. Hevesi helped influence and endorse his multibillion-dollar budget savings plan, appears to have banished the comptroller’s name from his public remarks.

Mr. Spitzer has stopped short of calling for Mr. Hevesi’s resignation but has said that if the comptroller worked for him he would face serious consequences.The threat has sparked speculation about Mr. Hevesi’s future if he wins the general election against his Republican opponent, J. Christopher Callaghan, a former treasurer of Saratoga County.

Aside from imposing sanctions, the state ethics commission can refer its investigation to a relevant prosecutor — presumably, either the Albany district attorney or the attorney general’s office — if it determines that Mr. Hevesi committed a crime. The Albany district attorney, David Soares, said last week that his office had opened a criminal investigation into Mr. Callaghan’s complaint against the comptroller.

If Mr. Hevesi were to resign, the state Legislature would be authorized to elect a replacement comptroller, with Assembly Democrats controlling the largest chunk of votes.

Yesterday, a reporter asked Mr. Spitzer about Mr. Hevesi’s recent decision to no longer release a public schedule. “People will run their own campaigns, but I run the campaign that I believe is the right sort of campaign,” he said.

Mr. Spitzer’s campaign supplies reporters with the candidate’s schedule.