Group Files Ethics Complaint Against DEC

Today’s New York Times includes an article that follows an e-mail trail which shows that officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) worked with a private company, NYCO Minerals, to gain support for a state constitutional amendment that would allow the company to undertake additional mining in the Adirondacks. The e-mails show that DEC staff actively engaged in drafting and soliciting support for the constitutional amendment, and also in having the Board of Elections modify its proposed ballot language for the constitutional amendment.

The group that obtained the e-mails, Protect the Adirondacks, has filed a complaint with JCOPE alleging that DEC’s action were in violation of the state Constitution’s prohibition [Article VII, Section 8(1)] on the making of gifts or loans of State monies to or in aid of any private undertaking.

Since JCOPE’s jurisdiction is limited to potential violations of the state’s ethics laws (Public Officers Law §§ 73, 73-a, and 74), Civil Service Law §107, and the Lobbying Act (Legislative Law article 1-a), my sense is that JCOPE won’t be taking any action on this complaint.