Albany pols have all their bases covered

From the Daily News:

New York’s ethics watchdog is struggling for credibility after closed-door missteps gave the impression that the panel shied from investigating Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s role in the Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal.

While the panel insists it got a bum rap, two points are indisputable:

First, there’s no way for New Yorkers to judge the actions of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics because the Legislature and Gov. Cuomo cloaked its operations in excessive secrecy.

Second, lawmakers placed overly strict limits on how the commission does business — down to regulating the number of days the panel has to react after receiving a formal complaint.

The Legislature demanded these handcuffs — which protect accused lawmakers while weakening the panel — as the price of finally submitting to outside scrutiny.

From the Daily News:

Using taxpayer money to settle sexual misconduct cases against state lawmakers — like in the case of Assemblyman Vito Lopez — is controversial, but perfectly legal.

The practice was upheld judicially in 2008 after a taxpayer filed suit in State Supreme Court to challenge a $500,000 settlement. The state had dished out taxpayer funds to a legislative staffer who in 2004 accused Michael Boxley, then counsel to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, of rape.

In dismissing the case, which sought to have Silver and Boxley reimburse the state, the court found there was “no allegation that Silver … caused the wrongful expenditure, misappropriation, misapplication or any other illegal or unconstitutional disbursement of state funds.” The Appellate Division upheld the State Supreme Court’s dismissal.

The settlement in the Boxley case was actually hammered out as part of a legal proceeding by former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The court found that even if Spitzer had erred in judgment by agreeing to the $500,000 payout, that was an issue for voters to decide, not the courts.