Editorial: New York ethics law needs an overhaul
Janet DiFiore, chair of the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, presides over a meeting in Albany, N.Y. (May 31, 2012) Credit: AP
The late August revelation that Democratic Brooklyn Assemb. Vito Lopez was accused of sexually harassing female staffers was soon overtaken by the disclosure that $103,000 in taxpayer money was used in a quiet payoff to the two women. But the conflagration continued last week, with the flames now encircling the state ethics board charged with investigating the scandal.
Yesterday, the Joint Commission on Ethics finally made official . . . that it was conducting an investigation. We can only assume, and hope, that the probe involves Lopez and the payments for what appears to be the victims' silence. What is clear, however, is that the 2011 law creating JCOPE to enforce sanctions against misbehaving members of the legislature and executive branch failed its first test.
To restore the credibility of JCOPE -- as well as that of the legislature -- the ethics law must be amended to minimize the ability of commission members to veto a probe. The amendment must also permit disclosure of probes underway, when the underlying incident is already well known to the public, as in this case.
A little history shows just how hard this will be. Former Gov. David A. Paterson vetoed an ethics reform bill in 2010 because it would have given the legislature control over investigating itself. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made holding elected officials accountable a signature goal, and in June 2011, in the closing days of the session, he, Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) announced a deal. It was truly a "deal," and a done deal at that.
Details of the 113-page bill weren't seen until it was time to vote, so it passed without extensive debate. The fine print revealed, however, that party caucuses would control the enforcement of their own ethics probes. Of the 14 JCOPE members, the legislature names eight and the governor six. And just two vetoes can stop an investigation of the executive, while three can stop one of the legislature.
That seems to be what happened last week when, behind closed doors, JCOPE voted to investigate Lopez but not the Assembly's payment authorized by Silver.
When the ethics reform law was signed in 2011, Dick Dadey, head of the good-government group Citizens Union, described it as a "roll of the dice." The first roll came up snake eyes.
