26 August 2021: JCOPE Finally Asks for Criminal Probe of Leak to Cuomo

JCOPE votes to ask AG to conduct criminal probe of alleged leak to Cuomo

Perhaps realizing that putting Andrew M. Cuomo's interests ahead of its own and the public's interests may not be a viable strategy to promote ethical behavior among New York state government officials, New York's Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) has finally made a criminal referral related to a 2019 leak from its own meetings to Andrew M. Cuomo.

In a startling reversal, New York’s ethics oversight commission passed a motion asking state Attorney General Letitia James to investigate whether confidential information was illegally leaked to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2019.

In a second vote on Thursday, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics authorized James’ office to conduct a criminal investigation into whether the state inspector general’s office, which investigated the alleged leak to Cuomo, intentionally failed to find out the identity of the leaker and instead “covered up” the matter.

By the slimmest margin, JCOPE's commissioners passed the motions to make the criminal referrals to James — actions legally required in order for her office to pursue possible investigations.

It’s not immediately clear if James’ office will indeed investigate the matters.

The motions passed on Thursday direct JCOPE’s executive director, Sanford Berland, to ask James for criminal investigations into the apparent leak of confidential information from the ethics panel, as well as the state inspector general’s subsequent investigation into the matter, and any other illegal leaks since the commission was created in 2011.

Based on their well established track record, had Andrew M. Cuomo not been forced to resign, JCOPE's commissioners, many of whom were appointed by Cuomo, would not have taken this action.