New SBOE Regs Give Commissioners Greater Control Over the Independent Enforcement Counsel

The state Board of Elections has approved amendments to (9 NYCRR Part 6203) that give the Commissioner more authority over the investigations being conducted by the board’s chief enforcement counsel.  (Read background from the Times Union and Politico NY).

The new rules require the Board’s enforcement counsel to provide details regarding the subpoenas she seeks to issue, and to specify what Election Law violation(s) she believes has occurred.  In addition, the targets of her subpoenas will be permitted to ask that the Board quash or modify them.

Numerous objections were raised to the changes.  Gov. Cuomo and Attorney General Underwood opposed the changes.  Risa Sugarman, the Board’s chief enforcement counsel, wrote a lengthy letter opposing the proposed change. She argued that the proposed amendments “would allow the politically partisan commissions of the SBOE to impose their own political will on the independent chief enforcement counsel’s investigations,” violating the “clear statutory mandate” of the 2014 law that created her position.

Other opposing the rule change include good government groups, former members of the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption and some newspaper editorial boards, including the Albany Times Union.

Read news coverage from the Times Union, the Daily News, Newsday, the NY Post and the Gotham Gazette.