JCOPE Is Hiring, and More

JCOPE is seeking an Executive Director.  $148,000 per year, 10% travel.  The posting does not note that the job may be among the most thankless in Albany.

The NY Post editorial board calls for JCOPE’s report on Assemblyman Vito Lopez to be released.

Gail Collins of the NY Times asks “is New York’s State Legislature the most corrupt in the country?”

The Journal News editorial board asks whether Albany can fix itself.

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle edit board says that an Albany Cleanup  is overdue: “Cuomo should not only bore full-speed ahead on his previously proposed ethics reforms, but finally push hard for campaign reform.”

The Governor defended JCOPE this week, reminding reporters that it was never intended to be a prosecutorial agency like the U.S. Attorney’s office.

In the Times Union, Rick Karlin reminds us that the law governing state legislators’ financial disclosure statement has been revised to provide a greater degree of public disclosure.

Rick also write of “scandal fatigue” setting in at the Capitol.

Also in the Times Union, Fred LeBrun predicts that a plan to “to overhaul ethics and electoral oversight in state government will coalesce in the next several weeks.”

From the current issue of the Albany Law Review, a timely article on “Albany’s Decade of Corruption.” The author suggests “reforms to criminal public corruption laws as a means to deter the ethically challenged.”