More JCOPE Reaction

It was a bit of a rocky first week for the state’s new ethics oversight and enforcement agency:

The New York Daily News:  “Bungled Beginning for Revamped Albany Ethics Commission”: “The superduper ethics watchdog that Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature set up with much fanfare this year is getting off to a rocky start.”

The Albany Times Union’s editorial board asks “How Different Is This Ethics Panel?”  Columnist Fred LeBrun discusses JCOPE’s inauspicious beginning, stemming largely from the perception that the appointments were rushed and “minimally vetted.”

Senate Minority Leader John Sampson’s working relationship with his JCOPE appointee Ravi Batra is scrutinized.

On a more positive note, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle profiles JCOPE Chair Janet DiFiore, while the New York Law Journal sees the Governor’s appointment of a sitting District Attorney as JCOPE Chair as reflective of “a more aggressive approach” to ethics enforcement.