4 October 2021: Cuomo Loyalist Resigning from JCOPE

After blowback for Hochul, JCOPE chair officially resigns

After causing considerable embarassment to replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul, James Dering will resign, as planned, from chairing New York's Joint Commission on Public Ethics after holding one meeting. The following excerpt describes how the Cuomo loyalist contributed to thwarting an effort to rescind the approval JCOPE's staff granted to Andrew M. Cuomo to produce his pandemic "leadership" book.

After leading New York's ethics commission for one meeting, the body's chair James Dering has officially resigned, commissioners were told on Monday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to appoint a new commissioner to the panel for a special meeting that the Joint Commission on Public Ethics is holding on Tuesday, commissioners were informed by JCOPE staff.

At the Tuesday meeting, commissioners are expected to discuss whether to launch an internal inquiry into JCOPE staff's approval of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's book deal last year. But it was not immediately clear who would chair the meeting.

Hochul's office did not immediately comment.

On Sept. 14, Hochul announced that Dering would be the new acting chair of JCOPE, which generated blowback from both the political right and left, since Dering had originally been appointed to the commission by Cuomo. Dering had worked as general counsel in the state Department of Health under Cuomo's administration, and before that, in the attorney general's office when Cuomo was there. That prompted critics to question whether Hochul was truly making a break from a former governor perceived as exerting influence over the commission, and who is currently the subject of its scrutiny.

During the meeting that ensued on Sept. 14, both Dering and a new Hochul appointee to JCOPE, Randall Hinrichs, voted against revoking JCOPE's approval of Cuomo's book deal; as a result, the commission fell one vote short of doing so.

In other words, Dering voted to support Andrew M. Cuomo's personal interest in collecting the $5.12 million proceeds from his pandemic "leadership" book deal, despite his using state employees and state resources to produce it.

As we noted above, Dering's resignation was planned weeks ago, so the timing indicates Hochul has likely identified a successor that should let her put more of her own stamp on the body. Hopefully, she learned from her last fiasco.