CPI Finds MRT Members Did Not Violate Public Officers Law

On Friday, Commission on Public Integrity (CPI) Executive Director Barry Ginsberg responded to the complaint filed in early March by the Center for Justice and Democracy (CJD).  The group asked the CPI to investigate whether the members of the Governor’s Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) violated the State Code of Ethics as set forth in Public Officers Law § 74.

Ginsberg concluded that CJD’s complaint “fail[ed] to establish a basis on which the Commission could investigate the subjects for alleged ethics violations.”

Ginsberg relied on a 1998 Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion, which addressed the application of Public Officers Law §74 to members of New York State advisory boards in an unpaid or per diem capacity.

Ginsberg cited three reasons why further investigation by the CPI is not warranted:

• the MRT is an advisory body, with power to turn its recommendations into policy;
• while the MRT’s members are “stakeholders” in Medicaid policy, MRT members’ interests are not aligned across the board, minimizing the chance that any individual member could force any single proposal for recommendation; and
• the MRT’s process met the threshold for transparency and openness.