JCOPE critics aren’t giving up

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The chairman of the state Senate ethics committee said that even though hearings to fix the dysfunctional New York ethics committee have been delayed, she hopes solutions can be found by the end of the day. end of summer.

Senator Alessandra Biaggi this week canceled a scheduled hearing that was to feature testimony from the executive director of the troubled Joint Commission on Public Ethics, or JCOPE. Concerns over whether the hearing complied with the state’s open meetings law led to the postponement.

She said that once again Senators can attend in person instead of Zoom and with a new date set she hopes to look at solutions to the state’s poor ethics record.

The Center for Public Integrity, a reform advocacy group, gives New York a D-minus rating for ethics. Biaggi said JCOPE is dominated by people appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo and has complex rules that make it difficult to conduct investigations or impose sanctions.

JCOPE was set up to fail, Biaggi said.

She said the ethics committee rarely launches inquiries when corruption allegations are made, even in the case of former Cuomo senior aide Joe Percoco, who was convicted of running bribery programs. and bribes. He is currently serving a sentence in federal prison.

Another problem arose last summer, when Ethics Board staff allowed Cuomo to write a brief on the COVID-19 pandemic that grossed him $ 5 million. Commissioners who were appointed by members of the Legislative Assembly were not notified of the Governors’ request. Cuomo is now accused of inappropriately using staff to help him write and edit the book, which he denies. Republican commissioners and lawmakers have called for an investigation into the book case, but have received no response from JCOPE.

There are also questions about the independence of the commissioners. Recently, a commissioner appointed by the President of the Assembly said he witnessed a leak regarding his confidential vote in the Percoco case.

And when surveys are conducted, they often take years to complete, or in some cases, never come to a conclusion.

Erica Vladimer was an assistant to former Senate co-chief Jeff Klein in 2015, when she says he forcefully kissed her outside an Albany tavern. Klein denied the charges and in 2018 asked JCOPE to look into them. Three years later, Klein is no longer in power after losing a candidate for re-election, and the case has not been resolved.

Vladimer is now part of the Sexual Harassment Task Force, which is made up of former legislative staff who say they have been sexually harassed by lawmakers. She plans to testify at the hearing when it is postponed. She said JCOPE is ill-equipped to deal with complaints of sexual harassment and needs to hire experts who can better investigate the allegations.

Bring in a lawyer with expertise in labor law, Vladimer said. Bring in someone from the Human Rights Division.

Vladimer said there must also be adequate funding for new hires and for the commission.

A bill sponsored by Biaggi would make several changes to JCOPE to make it easier to conduct investigations. A move by his colleague, Senator Liz Krueger, would amend the state constitution to create a permanent ethics committee dominated by appointments by state judges.

Blair Horner is part of the New York Public Interest Research Group, which supports a constitutional amendment.

JCOPE must go, said Horner, who added that the commission is not structured to be an independent ethical watchdog.

This is clearly a reflection of the governor and legislative leaders, not the public interest, Horner said.

So far, only the State Senate holds hearings and supports proposed reforms. The State Assembly has not yet agreed to make any changes.

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