Seiler: JCOPE's got 99 problems
But, contrary to Cuomo's opinion, the inability to sanction legislators directly isn't one
FacebookTwitterEmail
Logo at the entrance to the NYS Joint Commission on Public Ethics offices in Albany, NY, Tuesday May 28, 2013. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)John Carl D'Annibale, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER / Albany Times Union
At no point in the sad decade-long history of the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics has anyone ever said that the major flaw in its structure was the fact that it can't directly sanction misbehaving members of the state Legislature.
Until last week, that is, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo was asked if he supported a bill that would reform JCOPE's goofy appointment system, which grants state Senate Republicans the power to name three commissioners to the panel while the chamber's supermajority Democrats only get one appointee, and voting requirements that can stand in the way of investigations even when they're supported by a majority of commissioners.