It's now legal in New York to write an autobiography during a pandemic while people are dying

 

Politico 

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo won a lawsuit Tuesday in which he challenged New York’s defunct ethics agency’s attempt to seize his profits from a $5.1 million book deal about the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics determined last year that Cuomo improperly used state staff and resources while writing his 2020 memoir on the pandemic, “American Crisis.” It ordered him to surrender his compensation to the state.

But Cuomo’s legal team refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the JCOPE ruling, and Albany County Supreme Court Justice Denise Hartman issued a decision that sided with him on Tuesday afternoon.

Hartman determined that JCOPE’s actions against the ex-governor would “violate due process” by not following the proper procedures for bringing an action and overstepping its authority.

“JCOPE was seeking to impose sanctions for Cuomo’s alleged non-compliance with JCOPE’s outside activities rules,” she wrote. But state law says it can “impose sanctions only for violation of the statute, not for violations of JCOPE’s rules.”

Cuomo’s team quickly praised the decision.

“JCOPE’s utter lawlessness in its treatment of Governor Cuomo has been exposed and the rule of law prevailed,” attorney Rita Glavin said in a statement. “JCOPE’s conduct was shameful, unlawful, and a waste of taxpayer’s funds.”

The Democratic governor resigned a year ago amid sexual harassment allegations, and the book was widely criticized for its large payout to Cuomo and months later when a state report found his administration undercounted Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent.

Michael Blake abusing affordable housing program that he monitors

Crains New York

Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake is one of six officials appointed to a new task force charged with investigating corruption in the state's troubled Mitchell-Lama housing program.
But a Crain's analysis shows that Blake—a Democratic National Committee vice chair and candidate for Congress—has for years taken advantage of a different homeownership program by improperly subletting a government-subsidized condominium intended for moderate-income tenants, in violation of a host of rules and restrictions.
State and city housing officials said they would investigate the apparent abuse.
It was this sublet that controversially enabled Blake, who earns a six-figure salary, to run for his seat in 2014 despite his having resided for years in Washington, D.C., while serving in the Obama administration.

Voting records and Board of Elections documents show that Blake has lived for almost seven years in a building called the Aurora, constructed on a parcel of city-owned land in 2008. The offering plan submitted to the New York attorney general's office states that the project received multiple construction loans from the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development as well as through the state's Affordable Housing Corporation program.
The building also benefited from the federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program and from the state's contentious 421-a tax credit. Accordingly, the bulk of the condominiums were priced below market value—in the case of the space Blake occupies, for persons earning no more than 130% of the region's area median income. As of 2019, that figure stood at $97,110 annually for a household of one. 
Blake's financial disclosures with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics indicate his earnings have exceeded that amount every single year he has held elected office, thanks in part to the multiple consulting jobs he has done in addition to his legislative duties.

Cuomoleaks

Times Union

  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was allegedly briefed on the details of a closed-door vote by the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics last January, around the time the panel voted on whether to investigate Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to the governor.

The allegation — that someone in JCOPE may have illegally informed the governor or his staff about the voting breakdown of the panel’s non-public decision — was secretly investigated by the state inspector general’s office between January and Oct. 4, when the inspector general sent a letter to JCOPE stating its investigation had been unable to substantiate the complaint.

The apparent breach of JCOPE’s bylaws was revealed when Cuomo allegedly contacted Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie almost immediately following the commission’s January meeting and expressed concerns about the votes of the speaker’s appointees to JCOPE.

Julie A. Garcia, a Warren County attorney who had been appointed to JCOPE by Heastie in August 2018, said she cannot discuss any matters related to the commission’s discussions or votes in executive sessions.

But without disclosing what the vote related to, Garcia confirmed that she complained to former JCOPE Executive Director Seth Agata last January that someone from Heastie’s staff had contacted her shortly after a commission meeting in January and informed her about Cuomo’s alleged conversation with the legislative leader.


NY Post


The state’s embattled ethics agency refused Tuesday to release the whistleblower complaint that prompted the state’s Inspector General to open a probe into leaks involving Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics met behind closed doors for almost four hours in Albany and then suddenly adjourned, refusing to cast a vote on releasing the complaint or to answer questions from reporters about it.

The complaint alleges that Gov. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Heastie spoke in Jan. 2019 about JCOPE’s confidential deliberations around a possible probe of Joe Percoco, Cuomo’s former top aide and fixer — who now sits in federal prison following a 2016 corruption conviction.

State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro — a Cuomo appointee, who said she recused herself from the leak probe — sent a letter on Oct. 4 saying her office couldn’t substantiate the claim.
The entire affair is cloaked in mystery.

JCOPE refuses to comment on Percoco or any possible investigation. And Tagliafierro’s office refuses to say whether or not Cuomo or Heastie were interviewed as part of the probe.
“Consistent with other investigative bodies, this agency cannot discuss the particulars of investigative methods or procedures – particularly in matters that are unsubstantiated,” Tagliafierro’s spokesman Lee Park told The Post, adding the letter is subject state freedom of information laws.

Broadway Stages is suing the state to block probe into donations to de Blasio's corrupted CONY fund

NY Post


A major donor to Mayor de Blasio’s since-shuttered nonprofit is suing to block a state probe of its $60,000 in contributions.

Broadway Stages claims that the Joint Commission on Public Ethics exceeded its authority by slapping the TV and film production company with an Aug. 19 subpoena.

The subpoena seeks copies of “all communications” between Broadway Stages and de Blasio, his defunct Campaign for One New York charity and lobbyist James Capalino, according to the lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Albany.

Broadway Stages — whose CEO and president, Gina Argento, raised more than $110,000 for de Blasio’s 2013 campaign and transition, making her Hizzoner’s No. 2 bundler — claims that state law allows JCOPE to investigate only officials who receive gifts, and not those who give them.

Its lawsuit, filed Thursday, also denies that the company donated to CONY “at the direction of the Mayor (or any other public official).”

It's all legal...technically

From Gotham Gazette:

When Rockland County Democratic Party Chair Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky fills out her annual state disclosure forms, she consults her husband for question six, which requires the listing of contracts held with a state or local agency held by the filer, filer’s spouse, or unemancipated child.

Evan Stavisky, a partner in the prominent Albany lobbying firm The Parkside Group, after checking with the firm’s lawyer, has told his wife that his company does not represent any government entities. So, for the past six years, Kristen has entered “none” for the question, according to the disclosure documents obtained from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE).

At the same time, between 2010 and 2016, Parkside pulled in more than $1 million from representing quasi-public entities, including four foundations affiliated with city and state universities, three New York City-based public library systems, and a local economic development corporation, according to the lobbying firm’s disclosure filings that can be viewed on the JCOPE website.

One of these contracts, on behalf of the Queens Economic Development Corporation -- which is treated by state law as a public authority -- expired in 2010, so according to filing instructions, Kristen Stavisky was not required to declare it on her JCOPE form for that year. But the other clients -- foundations associated with the CUNY Graduate Center, Queensborough Community College, Queens College, CUNY Creative Arts Team, and SUNY’s University at Buffalo, as well as Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library, and Queens Public Library -- fall into an ambiguous zone, defined as local or state agencies in some statutes of New York State law, but not others.

Parkside’s government-affiliated nonprofit contracts picked up in 2009-2010, the last time Democrats held a ruling majority in the Senate. Toby Ann, a former social studies teacher, chaired the Senate’s Higher Education Committee that year.

At the time, Toby Ann, seeking an advisory opinion, wrote to JCOPE that though she was not required to, she would prohibit her son, but not his partners, from lobbying members of the Senate. Despite calls for a probe from ethics watchdogs, a 2009 advisory opinion from the state's Legislative Ethics Commission deemed the arrangement “appropriate,” the New York Daily News reported.

Consultants may be considered lobbyists soon

From the Daily News:

A slew of prominent communications firms may be forced to register as lobbyists under a proposal by the state ethics commission.

The plan would force private consulting groups that have helped craft messages for lobbying efforts to register with the state. Until now, their activities have not been considered lobbying.

Under a proposed advisory opinion by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a person or firm would be required to publicly disclose their activities with the state if they helped set up a meeting with a public official, had direct interaction with an official in connection with an advocacy campaign, or provided substantive or strategic input on both the content and delivery of a message.

The Joint Public Commission on Public Ethics is seeking comments through Dec. 4 on its proposal. At some point after that, the commission will decide whether to approve it.

Vito probe closed

From the NY Post:

State Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who was accused of groping young female staffers, is not expected to be charged criminally following a months-long investigation, The Post has learned.

Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, who is operating as a special prosecutor, is expected to announce today that his investigation didn’t find enough evidence to charge Lopez, sources told The Post.

The harassment allegations lodged by two Lopez staffers last summer led to the revelation that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had quietly authorized a payment of $103,000 in taxpayer funds to settle previous allegations by two other women against Lopez.

The controversy rocked the state’s political hierarchy and sparked an investigation by the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

In February, the commission issued a scathing 58-page report to the Legislative Ethics Commission and Donovan, who asked the LEC not to release it until his investigation into the allegations was finished.

With Donovan’s probe complete, the LEC is expected to release the report as early as today. The report was so explicit in outlining how Silver’s staff handled the allegations that members of the LEC asked JCOPE to redact it.

From the Politicker:

Although Assemblyman Vito Lopez was cleared of criminal charges today, the same can not be said of a highly-revealing report from the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics–which concluded that Mr. Lopez fostered a shockingly sordid work environment in clear violation of official standards of conduct.

In the scathing 68-page report, Mr. Lopez–who was stripped of his powerful committee chairmanship and his position atop the Brooklyn Democratic Party after sexual harassment allegations first surfaced last year—engaged in such acts as hanging mistletoe in his district office and forcibly kissing a staffer, shoving his hand “all the way up” the inner thigh of another staffer and more. Mr. Lopez has insisted he’s done nothing wrong.

With minimal paraphrasing, Politicker has compiled some of the most shocking findings detailed in the JCOPE report...

All about Vito

From the Daily News:

Embattled Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez is facing a major new health crisis, he told the Daily News.

Already fighting cancer, Lopez said doctors have found two new growths on his brain and are trying to determine if those growths are cancerous.

Doctors are looking for a way to do a biopsy without opening the veteran assemblyman’s skull, he said.

From the Daily News:

Assemblyman Vito Lopez refused to testify before a state ethics commission probing allegations of his pervy behavior because of a related criminal probe, a source close to Lopez told the Daily News.

The source insists Lopez did not testify before the Joint Commission on Public Ethics at the urging of his lawyer because the interviews were being done in conjunction with the criminal probe by Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan.

The source said Lopez’s lawyer told the ethics commission that the assemblyman would “come in and talk to JCOPE only, but they said ‘no.’”

From the NY Post:

Under fire for sex-harassment charges, State Assemblyman Vito Lopez is planning a political strategy session with allies next week that could propel him toward a run for City Council — or retirement by the end of the year.

At the state Capitol yesterday to vote on the new state budget, the ex-Brooklyn Democratic boss — who is battling thyroid cancer and two new growths on the brain — strongly hinted he’ll either run for City Council in November or retire from the Assembly by the end of the year.

“It is increasingly more difficult for me to travel back and forth to Albany,” said Lopez (right), facing ethics and criminal investigations into allegations that he sexually harassed female Assembly aides last year.

“In the last eight months, I’ve gotten pneumonia twice,” Lopez said in the Assembly. “I’m continuing to have cancer-related problems, and I find it extremely difficult to sustain even another year here.”

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.

The latest in the Gropez saga

From the Village Voice:

Much to the dismay of the National Organization of Women, women's rights attorney Gloria Allred, Assembly candidate Frank Commisso Jr., and thousands of New Yorkers, we're sure, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is off the hook for his tax-payer funded coverup of allegations of sexual misconduct by his old pal/current disgraced Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics has decided to not investigate Silver's role in sweeping sexual harassment allegations made against Lopez under the rug by paying two of his accusers more than $103,000 in taxpayer money to essentially keep their mouths shut about Lopez.

From the Daily News:

Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan is doing what state ethics investigators won’t – investigate Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Donovan was granted permission by a state judge Friday to “investigate allegations that funds, both public and private” were used by the Assembly leadership to settle two sexual harassment complaints against Lopez earlier this year.

Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Fern A. Fisher, in issuing the order, said the disbursement of funds represented possible violations of, among other things, the state penal law and public officers law.

Fisher’s order comes after it was reported that the Joint Commission on Public Ethics had decided to limit its probe on the matter to Lopez’s actions and not Silver’s decision to settle the earlier case before it was sent to an Assembly ethics committee.

Court spokesman David Bookstaver, a court spokesman, said Fisher issued the new order in order to give “more specificity” to the scope of Donovan’s investigations.

Donovan was named by Fisher to head up the Lopez investigation last week after Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes - citing his longstanding political ties to Lopez – asked that a special prosecutor be named for the case.

From the NY Post:

It sounds delusional, but besieged Assemblyman Vito Lopez has told some people he might run for the City Council next year.

“He was saying this right after he was charged with sex harassment,” said one stunned source.

Whether Lopez means it or not is impossible to tell.

Assuming he isn’t slapped with criminal charges — and that remains far from certain — there’s nothing that would stop him from becoming a council candidate in 2013.

Lopez has been obsessed for years with grabbing the Bushwick seat now held by Diana Reyna, a former aide he’s never forgiven for breaking with him, acting independently and refusing to toe his dictatorial line.

It's not just a "Bushwick seat." Part of Ridgewood is gerrymandered into council district 34.