* NY Gov: Open to ethics overhaul for politicians/lobbyists * NYC asks SEC to stop pension advisers' campaign donations * NY Assemblyman launches bid to overhaul campaign finance * NY governor names new integrity commission chairman (Releads with governor's comments, adds lawyer's statement)

By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - New York's governor called on Wednesday for stepped-up enforcement of ethics laws, while New York City's comptroller urged new federal curbs on campaign gifts to politicians who run public pension funds.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has drawn attention to flaws in ethics oversight with his two-year probe of pension kickbacks, which has led to two guilty pleas and turned into a national investigation.

Governor David Paterson on Wednesday named a new chairman for the New York Public Integrity Commission, which oversees government officials. Following an inspector general's critical report, Paterson asked his gubernatorial appointees to resign.

"I'm totally open to restructuring the way we monitor the actions of public officials and the process of lobbying," the Democratic governor told reporters.

In another development, New York City Comptroller William Thompson told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a letter that Cuomo's pension probe had uncovered a "pervasive and systematic problem" with placement agents.

In the tangled web of state and local finance, placement agents are middlemen -- often politically connected -- who are hired by investment firms to help them win contracts to manage the assets of public pension funds.

The comptrollers for both New York City and the state have suspended or banned placement agents. They also urged the SEC to enact a campaign finance reform first proposed in 1999.