Court: Lawmakers can subpoena ethics records

A State Supreme Court justice has rejected the Suffolk Ethics Commission attempt to block a legislative probe into its operations and upheld the legislature's right to subpoena commission records.

But Justice Thomas Whelan also quashed a subpoena already served because there was no vote by the special legislative committee to ask for the records.

Presiding Officer William Lindsay hailed the decision and said the subpoena can be "easily corrected" with a committee vote.

But he added that attorneys for the commission have indicated they may recommend turning records over voluntarily.

Steven Leventhal, the commission's lawyer, said he could not confirm Lindsay's comment, but plans to meet with the commission Tuesday to review the decision.

"I'm satisfied Justice Whelan's decision gives the ethics commission exactly what it needed - clarity as to its legal obligations," he said.

Lindsay launched the ethics committee after Newsday reported that County Executive Steve Levy had been filing state disclosure forms rather than the more detailed county form.

Lindsay said the inquiry is aimed at determining whether the ethics commission is consistent in how it operates, issues opinions and responds to requests for release of information. He said the ruling reaffirms the legislature's watchdog role. "If the legislature does not have the power of oversight over county government, it is a toothless tiger."

The three-member ethics commission's had requested a preliminary injunction to halt a special legislative committee initiated last summer because it was "not lawfully constituted." They also maintained that documents sought by subpoena "are prohibited from disclosure by local law" and could subject the commission to criminal penalties.

In his ruling, Whelan said, "The petitioner failed to demonstrate that the public policy of this state precludes the dissemination of documents relating to the inner workings of an ethics commission. . . . Indeed public policy appears to dictate just the opposite."

Levy, in a statement, said, "It's good to see there is finality so that materials can be turned over to the legislature without any liability to volunteer commission members."