JCOPE Meets Again

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) held its third meeting yesterday.  JCOPE has yet to name an Executive Director, and has been unable to get the Division of Budget to approve temporary hires to help reduce its backlog of filings and late fees.

The Commissioners also discussed the need to upgrade its outdated computer system, and agreed to contact the Office of General Services (OGS) to discuss its excess office space. OGS is leading the state’s “real estate optimization” effort, commonly referred to as “re-stacking.

JCOPE Chair Janet DiFiore said that the Commissioners discussed candidates for the position of Executive Director while in an executive session, which took place after the open portion of the meeting.  Filling the Executive Director position will enable JCOPE to move forward with hiring investigators and attorneys, and to address a significant backlog of cases.