27 May 2021: Cuomo Calls State Ethics Watchdog "Meaningless"

Cuomo dismisses state ethics commission as 'meaningless'

New York's official ethics watchdog is the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, which goes by its acronym JCOPE.

According to this report, JCOPE is a joke. One exploited by Governor Cuomo, who called the commission "meaningless". Here's a lengthy excerpt to provide context:

As state lawmakers consider overhauling the state’s ethics commission, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday joined in the criticism of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, or J-COPE.

“It’s meaningless,” the governor said during a question and answer session with reporters at his midtown office.

J-COPE was created by Cuomo and passed by the legislature in 2011, after the governor promised to have the “most transparent administration in history.”

But since then, J-COPE has been chided by critics for its ineffectiveness and near obsession with secrecy. The watchdog agency was supposed to enforce ethical lapses and violations in both the legislative and executive branches.

“The fundamental flaw is a constitutional barrier,” Cuomo said.

“Because the fundamental flaw is it can't enforce anything, it's non-binding. It's essentially advisory. If the legislature takes the position that its findings are not binding because there is no outside agency that has any authority for any sanction,” Cuomo added.

J-COPE has actually sanctioned numerous state lawmakers for misconduct. But critics say because the governor appoints the majority of members on the commission, J-COPE has never concluded an investigation targeting any member of the Cuomo administration or the governor himself.

It all hit a boiling point recently when it was revealed the commission’s staff approved a $5.1 million book deal for Cuomo without publicly disclosing the sum. Normally, commissioners would make that decision but normal processes appear to have been bypassed by the governor.

It sounds like Governor Cuomo would know very well that JCOPE is a joke. He appears to have been in on it from the beginning.