The bill s sponsors presented the package a way to address the concerns of business owners statewide who have, for months, said they ve struggled to fill open jobs. Democratic critics said
Seiler: JCOPE s got 99 problems
But, contrary to Cuomo s opinion, the inability to sanction legislators directly isn t one
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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