New York State Investigation Unit Ready to Enforce Board of Election Laws

On July 2, 2013, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo appointed the “Commission to Investigate Public Corruption” under the Moreland Act and Executive Law Section 63(8) to probe systemic corruption and the appearance of such corruption in state government, political campaigns and elections in New York State.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman would appoint the members of the Commission as Deputy Attorneys General giving the Commission broad investigative authority to probe matters that “involve public peace, public safety and public justice”.

The Commission would have the power to issue subpoenas and examine witnesses under oath.  They would be tasked with reviewing the adequacy of existing state laws, regulations and procedures involving unethical and unlawful misconduct by public officials and the electoral process and campaign finance laws.  They would also examine whether existing laws and regulations have been fairly and vigorously enforced and what changes must be made to such enforcement.  The Commission is directed to make recommendations to toughen and improve existing laws and procedures.

The Commission is comprised of 3 co-chairs and 22 members.  It also includes 1 Special Counsel and 3 Special Advisors.  The Commission will issue a preliminary report by December 1, 2013 and any additional report(s) by January 1, 2015.

Governor Cuomo announced he was disbanding the panel, known as the Moreland Commission, on March 29.  The governor said at the time that in exchange for terminating the panel’s work, he had won tougher laws on bribery and corruption and improved enforcement of election laws.

The improved enforcement of election laws begins tomorrow.

The new compliance office for the state Board of Elections is designed to independently probe potential election law and campaign finance violations.  For the past several years, the Board of Elections had no investigators on staff to enforce election laws.  The unit was created as part of a deal to shut down Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission.

The new compliance office is designed to independently probe potential election laws and campaign finance violations.  It will be headed by Chief Enforcement Counsel Risa Sugarman, who was appointed by Cuomo and served him during his days as governor and attorney general.

The unit will begin with three investigators, three lawyers and two support staff.  For the past several years, the much-maligned Board of Elections has had no investigators on staff to enforce election laws.

The unit will also literally be walled off from the rest of the Board of Elections, agency spokesman John Conklin said.  "They had state workers build a closed space for them, which will be a secure area that can only be accessed via their employee ID cards and excludes other board personnel," Conklin said.

Some government reformers are taking a wait-and-see attitude as to how effective the new unit will be.  Blair Horner, of the New York Public Interest Research Group, called it "an interesting idea scotch-taped onto a completely dysfunctional agency."  "Hope springs eternal, but Albany's had such a lousy record of enforcement with both ethics and campaign finance laws that New Yorkers should be skeptical," Horner said. "But we certainly hope they succeed."

It's unclear how many cases await Sugarman as she sets up shop Tuesday.  The state Senate campaign for former City Controller John Liu last week said it filed a complaint claiming a political action committee controlled by a group of breakaway Senate Democrats who help control the chamber violated state spending limits by sending glossy mailings urging support for Queens Sen. Tony Avella in the Sept. 9 primary.  A lawyer for the PAC denied any wrongdoing.

The unit was part of several ethics reforms the Legislature agreed to in late March in exchange for Cuomo's controversial decision to shut down his anti-corruption commission.  That decision, as well as possible interference by top Cuomo aides into the work of the commission, is now being investigated by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY 2014-2015 Budget and Campaign Finance Reform

Yesterday, New York Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders adopted a state budget that avoided the meaningful campaign finance reform they've been promising for years.

I had hoped that Governor Cuomo would seize an historic opportunity to pass public financing of elections in this state budget for all state and legislative races.  He told us that he was pressing for consensus on a system of public financing that would end pay-to-play politics in New York.

Instead, the final budget includes a "pilot" program that would apply only to the State Comptroller's office and would need to be implemented in just two months, mid-election cycle.

This proposal isn't a compromise.  It's a capitulation to the deep-pocketed interests that have so much sway at the Capitol and an affirmation of the corrupt status quo that prevails in Cuomo's Albany.

There is a good chance the current comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, with an over $2 million campaign fund and no credible opponent, will opt-out of this pilot.  But will others use the pilot to get into the race?

At the same time, Cuomo disbanded the Moreland Commission, whose top recommendation for fixing Albany's broken campaign finance system was to enact public financing of elections for all statewide and legislative races.  The commission was supposed to be a catalyst for reform, instead Cuomo ignored its proposals and ensured its investigations into public corruption would cease.

The fight for Fair Elections in the 2014 budget may be over, but the work this legislative session and heading into November isn't.

Good Government Groups will be in the streets talking to everyday people about Albany's dysfunction and continuing to build a movement for a renewed push against the CEO donors.  They will be going door to door to rally people to respond to their representative's failures.

We must hold accountable those in Albany who continue to protect the corrupt status quo.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY Might be Ready for Statewide Term Limits

On July 2, 2013, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo appointed the “Commission to Investigate Public Corruption” under the Moreland Act and Executive Law Section 63(8) to probe systemic corruption and the appearance of such corruption in state government, political campaigns and elections in New York State.  It is called the "Moreland Commission".

The defeat of ballot Proposal 6 to raise the retirement age for judges, from 70 years for elected justices of the state Supreme Court and 76 years for appointed judges on the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest, to 80 years sent a powerful message.  The preliminary vote was 61% vs. 39%.  The Moreland Commission would do well to heed: New Yorkers have a healthy distaste for public officials who overstay their welcome.

Backers argued that forcing bench-sitters to retire is a waste of hard-learned judicial experience.  Voters weren’t buying the argument.  People on the public payroll should know when to quit.

That same visceral reaction against political careerism could be seen in the mayor’s race.  No single factor did more to tank the candidacy of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn than her role in overriding term limits for Mayor Bloomberg, herself and other city officer holders, that voters had approved twice.

Citizens of the New York City's five boroughs clearly hold a strong belief in the cleansing effect of forcible turnover in government.

Albany, meanwhile, has legislators who have been clinging to their seats for decades.  The system coddles incumbents so effectively that they’re more likely to be arrested than lose office in a general election, with the predictable consequence of widespread rot.

Surely, if the state’s voters were given the chance to impose term limits on the Capitol, they would do so in a heartbeat.  Just as surely, the State Legislature would never voluntarily grant voters that opportunity.

This is where the Moreland Commission comes in.  Its charge is to explore the root causes of Albany's problems and recommend fixes.

Nothing does more to breed corruption than the belief among politicians that they are locked in for life, free to focus on building their pensions and spinning webs instead of serving the people.

And nothing would blow up that culture more effectively than a mandatory changing of the guard after, say, after two terms.

If commission co-chairs William Fitzpatrick, Kathleen Rice and Milton Williams are serious about changing state government, they must put term limits on the table for the overdue debate.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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