15 February 2022: Cuomo Ethics Inquiries Stalled in Attorney General's Office

Ethics inquiries of Cuomo stalling in attorney general's office

This report describes the frustration that JCOPE commissioners are having with New York State Attorney General Letitia James' office in addressing the ethics inquiries involving Andrew M. Cuomo for which they've sought her office's help.

Five months after New York's ethics commission sought a criminal investigation into the leak confidential information, there's been no indication that state Attorney General Letitia James' office ever took up the matter.

The leak allegation is one of several probes sought by members of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics related to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. But the inquiries have languished at a time when the commission's own future is unsettled.

In her state budget address, Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed disbanding JCOPE and replacing it with a body more independent of state lawmakers. Before that happens, some commissioners are pressing for a timely resolution of the issues that emerged during the Cuomo era.

At a monthly meeting on Tuesday, Commissioner Gary Lavine asked whether any of the commission's staff had been interviewed by James' office concerning the leak matter. Executive Director Sandford Berland, who oversees the commission's staff, said that none had been interviewed.

And last week, former Commissioner Julie Garica, who reported the leak when it was revealed to her three years ago, told the Times Union that she also was never been interviewed by James' office.

There's no other way to describe the attorney general office's lack of action or simple follow-up as anything other than a failure. We view it as a failure that can be easily righted, provided Tish James exercise the leadership to direct her office's resources to perform its due diligence.