JCOPE Commissioners Question Hire

In a letter to the editor of the Times Union, four JCOPE commissioners say the recent appointment of State Police First Deputy Superintendent Kevin Gagan to the position of ‘special counsel’ is “plainly invalid.” The four commissioners – all legislative appointees, two from each political party – write:

This appointment and the cavalier approach taken only foretells more bad news for JCOPE. Designed to be independent, the incessant interference continues. If the next executive director is not hired from outside state government after an exhaustive search, the public trust will be inexorably destroyed.

The Times Union editorial board agrees, saying that “[i]t speaks volumes that four commissioners have grown so frustrated that they’re giving the public a rare glimpse of JCOPE’s dirty laundry.”