The New York Times said Monday that Caroline Kennedy - who has asked New York Gov. David Paterson to appoint her to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate, when Clinton joins the Obama administration as secretary of state - has declined to answer any questions about any potential ethical, legal and financial entanglements.

She refused to answer financial disclosure questions, and provide basic data, like companies she has a stake in and whether she has ever been charged with a crime. Her spokesman, Stefan Friedman, said that Kennedy does not wish to disclose any such information until and unless she becomes a senator.

Friedman said: "If Governor Paterson were to choose Caroline, she would, of course, comply with all disclosure requirements."

In fact, according to the Senate's self-imposed ethics rules, there is no requirement of any disclosure by potential appointees. Nevertheless, Paterson's office told the Times whoever the governor appoints will be subject to the a background check that any Cabinet-level official in state government must undergo - like a criminal background check, employment and education verification and a review of tax returns.

Several ethics experts, good-government advocates and scholars - terming Kennedy's situation highly unusual - have urged her to reveal information on her finances now, if only for appearances' sake, more so because of her overt pursuit of the job, her celebrity and her lack of previous political experience.

Dick Dadey, executive director of a nonpartisan watchdog group, noted that other major contenders for the Senate seat - officeholders like the attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, and Representative Kirsten Gillibrand - have mounted runs for office and filed public disclosures before.