Spin cycle: The Cuomo Watch for Dec. 27

Now that Michael G. Cherkasky has resigned as chairman of the state Commission on Public Integrity, one of the panel's members, Joseph Spinelli, "will serve as acting chair as needed," the commission announced. Under the last Cuomo administration, Spinelli, now with Navigant Consulting Inc., was the state's first inspector general, a post that under Governor-to-be Andrew Cuomo will be filled next month by Ellen Biben, who's been deputy attorney general for public integrity. The future of the public integrity commission, created in current form under Gov. Eliot Spitzer, is unclear. Cuomo said during the campaign he'll seek to "eliminate the existing oversight bodies" and create a state ethics commission with jurisdiction over both the executive and legislative branches.- Dan Janison