7 May 2021: JCOPE a "Waste of Time and Resources"

In Our Opinion: State ethics panel is part of the problem

This editorial from the Oneonta Daily Star hammers New York's ethically-troubled Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE). To summarize the editorial in a nutshell, JCOPE has failed to live up to its charter to take a "tough and aggressive approach" to clean up New York's state government.

The words in quotes in the above paragraph are those of Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2011, who was instrumental in establishing the commission and in staffing it over the last decade. Here's an excerpt from the editorial to illustrate how badly the state's official ethics watchdog has performed its stated mission under Governor Cuomo's watch:

The panel was accused of cronyism from the start, as many of its appointees were formers staffers of Cuomo or state legislators. And its priorities have seemed downright bizarre at times.

JCOPE waited for two years to investigate claims of sexual misconduct against state Sen. Jeff Klein, who was accused of forcibly kissing a staffer. But JCOPE brought the hammer down on Kat Sullivan, who isn't a public official but did put up billboards in support of the Child Victims Act, which made it easier for victims of childhood sex abuse to file lawsuits against their abusers. Sullivan, a rape survivor herself, was told she had to register as a lobbyist or face a $25,000 fine (JCOPE dropped the case after widespread criticism). JCOPE has also been criticized for approving a $4 million advance to Cuomo for his boastful memoir about the COVID-19 pandemic while he was deliberately misleading the public about the virus' death toll at New York nursing homes.

The article cites this 4 May 2021 article to provide a hot-off-the-presses example of JCOPE's apparent and perhaps deliberate incompetence in doing its job. The editorial concludes by calling JCOPE a "waste of time and resources", which gives this timeline entry its title!

Follow this link to see more timeline entries related to JCOPE's mysterious role of whether it is seriously investigating any of Governor Cuomo's scandals.