Months after a judge ruled that New York’s ethics watchdog violated the state constitution because it was too independent, a state lawyer told an appeals court that officials had the right to create a corruption-fighting commission more insulated from the people it monitors.
The arguments Friday over the fate of the state Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government stem from a lawsuit filed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who claims the commission lacked the constitutional authority to prosecute him. Cuomo, who resigned in 2021, is fighting an attempt by the commission to force him to forfeit $5 million he got for writing a book about his administration’s efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commission was created in 2022 to investigate potential ethics and lobbying violations by state officials, employees, lobbyists and their clients. The Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul replaced a previous ethics body that had been widely criticized for not being independent enough. Under the current commission, the governor appoints only three of the commission’s 11 members, cannot force them to explain their actions and cannot remove them for neglecting their duties.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Months after a judge ruled that New York’s ethics watchdog violated the state constitution because it was too independent, a state lawyer told an appeals court that officials had the right to create a corruption-fighting commission more insulated from the people it monitors.
The arguments Friday over the fate of the state Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government stem from a lawsuit filed by former Gov.
Cuomo, who resigned in 2021, is fighting an attempt by the commission to force him to forfeit $5 million he got for writing a book about his administration’s efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commission was created in 2022 to investigate potential ethics and lobbying violations by state officials, employees, lobbyists and their clients.
Arguing for the state, attorney Dustin Brockner said the governor and the Legislature have leeway to decide how to regulate their affairs.
Cuomo resigned in August 2021 after the attorney general released the results of an investigation that concluded the then-governor had sexually harassed at least 11 women.
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