NYC Bar, Common Cause Renew Call for JCOPE Review

The New York City Bar Association and Common Cause New York have again called on Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature to create a commission to review the effectiveness of the state’s ethics and lobbying regulator, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE). (The two groups originally made this request in July 2014.)

The two groups wrote to the Governor and Legislative leaders on Jan. 13, 2015, noting that Chapter 399 of 2011 “mandates the establishment of a Review Commission of eight members to review and evaluate the activities and performance of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the Legislative Ethics Commission,” and that the Review Commission is also supposed to make “legislative and administrative recommendations to the Governor and the legislature for strengthening the administration and enforcement of ethics laws in New York State.”

Common Cause NY is running a campaign to push for a JCOPE review commission. According to the group, “A review commission is needed to evaluate JCOPE’s performance because the current watchdogs are political appointees who operate in secret.”

Under the 2011 law, this entity was to have been formed last June.