Silver Regrets Making Settlement A Secret

[But if JCOPE does decide to investigate the matter, then it would have
subpoena power to review internal documents and communications in the
matter, as well as possibly determine the extent to which Silver knew of
the claims.]
And then what? Per the JCOPE website:

============================
Investigations and Enforcement

The Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011 created the Joint
Commission on Public Ethics, the first New York State agency to have
ethics oversight over both the Executive and Legislative Branches.

The Commission investigates potential violations of the state’s
ethics laws (Public Officers Law §§73, 73-a, and 74), the “Little Hatch
Act” (Civil Rights Law §107), and the Lobbying Act (Legislative Law
article 1-a) as they apply to state legislators, candidates for the
Legislature and legislative employees, as well as the four statewide
elected officials, candidates for those offices, executive branch state
employees, certain political party chairs, and lobbyists and their
clients. The Commission may impose civil penalties, after hearing, for
violations by state officers and employees and lobbyists and clients.
Commission findings with respect to Legislative Branch officers,
employees and candidates are required to be referred to the Legislative
Ethics Commission for enforcement.

==================================

Let’s read that last line again:

Commission findings with respect to Legislative Branch officers,
employees and candidates are REQUIRED to be referred to the Legislative
Ethics Commission for enforcement.

=====================================

It sounds to me like Silver and Skelos gave away NOTHING in Andy’s big ethics overhaul. All Andy got was a press release. Which is fine since that’s all Cuomo ever cares about anyway. Faux reform is Andy’s modus operandi.

So…I’d like to know what the point is if and when JCOPE investigates ANYTHING legislative — be it the Vito saga or any future matter — when all JCOPE can do is send their conclusions back to the Legislative Ethics Committee?

Furthermore, if Cuomo’s (likely) purpose is to embarrass the Assembly, wouldn’t he have to have his handmaidens, Ellen & Janet, violate confidentiality rules AGAIN and LEAK information to the press AGAIN, as they did regarding Libous? In which case, who investigates violations of the state ethics law by JCOPE? Schneiderman (with no subpoena power)? Soares? Ravi Batra?

It’s quite a Rube Goldberg contraption that Andy has created under the guise of ethics reform. Perhaps the press could grow a spine and ask Prince Andrew what the point is of his desire to involve JCOPE? I’d love to hear the answer.

Dream on, my little VJ. You really should try visiting planet earth every now and then.

Nonsense. The now unsecret payment is a tempest in a teapot. Plus, J-JOKE can’t do a damn thing to Silver. Read the law instead of posting repetitious drivel. JCOPE is at best an annoying gnat.

BTW, Silver should have whacked Andy upside the head a long time ago for being disrespectful. Permanently denying Cuomo ANY increased funding for hydrofracking is the perfect way to cut Andrew down to size. Most NYC people don’t want hydrofracking anway. Silver can screw Cuomo and be a hero to the City folk at the same time. Do it.

The way the media will play it and the people will perceive it, let’s face it–hush money was paid to a sexually harassed, abused woman out of our taxes so Vito wouldn’t be bounced. As much as I hate to agree with VJ’s blatantly partisan rant, it’s true. If these accusations were against a RepubliCAN’T Senator and Skelos authorized over 100 large in hush money, you would be outraged and demand their resignations and criminal prosecution, correctly too. If this involved civil servants within the agencies there’s be a termination proceeding.

My dear IM — Let’s note for starters that I’ve in no way, shape or form defended that that old letch, Lopez. At WHAT age do men stop acting like dogs in heat? I’d love to know.

I completely agree with you (and Silver’s belated statement) that the $103,000 settlement should have gone through a standard employee complaint proceeding. Who should run it is unclear. THERE IS NO HONEST BROKER UNDER CURRENT LAW. It’s probably impossible to ever find one. Both JCOPE and the Legislative Ethics Committee are tainted, IMHO. JCOPE is a puppet of Cuomo and the Legislative Ethics Committee is a puppet of the Speaker of the Assembly. Having JCOPE investigate something and then hand the results to the Legislative Ethics Committee, who will want to re-investigate things ITSELF, is STUPID. That’s one of the points that I’m trying to make in my rants.

I also think that “hush money” is a sensationalized term for what happened. Surely, you realize that Silver didn’t just slip $103,000 out of a cigar
box and hand it to the victim. That’s not how things work, even in the
legislature.

The Comptroller handles everyone’s money, even the legislature’s. The
payment was reviewed and approved by both the AG and the Comptroller
before a check was cut, as reported in at least one of the newspapers.
Presumably, the settlement check was cut by the COMPTROLLER. (If not, correct me, please.) Thus, there
is a FOILABLE record if the press wants to see it and/or tastelessly drag the victim
through the mud.

I suggest that the press FOIL the Comptroller’s office RIGHT NOW for EVERY check EVER cut as part of a legal setllement. If DiNapoli can’t identify legal settlements, that’s another reason to dump him come his next election.

As Cuomo initially said (and then changed his tune), payments are made for everything under the sun by ALL branches of government ALL the time. I bet that the Executive agencies (and possibly even the 2nd floor) have made numerous settlement payments over the years to employees who have been discriminated against on the basis of race, shoved off in a corner because of political spite, sexually harassed etc. I can’t remember seeing an announcement in the paper (or anywhere) for a even a single LEGAL SETTLEMENT by the state. Have you? HYPOCRISY pisses me off. Cuomo is up to his ears in hypocrisy. That’s another point of my rants.

Let me propose a simple but earth shattering solution to most transparency issues, The Comptroller should make PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE a version of the database (that he no doubt already has) listing the details of EVERY SINGLE CHECK cut by the state of New York. In REAL TIME or something close to it. I’m talking checks cuts to municipalities (huge printouts used to be given to the legislature), vendors, contractors, employees, pension investors, EVERYBODY. From the largest to the smallest check. There is NO REASON any check cut should have to be a secret. I’m talking the date, amount, recipient and a crystal clear coding system for what the check was for. We can code legal settlements with the letter “S” or “SOL”…or whatever. Make the database searchable on every one of these variables, so the press, me, you and Joe Blow can easily extract all settlement records and see what there is to see. This is NOT a Herculean task computerwise. Not at all. It’s a HUGE deal in terms of transparency.

For that matter, include checks written TO THE STATE in the database. I can’t think of a single reason why ANY CHECK going to and from NYS has to be a secret. What say you Tom DiNapoli? I’ll vote for ANY comptroller who sets up a transparent system like I’ve proposed.

Regarding VJ’s call for Silver to resign, I’m part of the reality based community. Silver isn’t going to resign (nor should he) for his dubious b.s. any more than Cuomo is going to resign for his. I’m sure that Skelos has dubious dealings, too. I want to see everyone treated equally, even if they’re turds. And they all ARE turds..

Last but not least, let me say that Silver is no paragon of virtue. If you think that I’m saying that, IM, you are completely mistaken. I AM an honest broker — which is why I’m not rich and famous.

The Assembly’s handling of employee complaints, be they of a sexual nature or not, has been ATROCIOUS as long as I can remember. Silver has added a teeny bit more structure to the process, purely to protect the Assembly’s ass when it gets sued, but it’s nothing to write home about. He has never lifted a finger to protect women from sexual harrassment except do the degree that it’s necessary to protect his ass….like the Vito Lopez situation.

It’s not surprising that sexual harassment is a problem in the legislature. Each member is treated as the king or queen of their very own fiefdom. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. What a surprise.

There’s more staff than just the folks (often young, female and good looking) in the member’s offices. There’s central staff, too. Women or men who complain about something (including sexual harassment from managers) may get moved, but ultimately they get screwed i.e., pushed out of a job. It’s just a matter of time, as it will be for Lopez’s victims. Just wait and see. I hope that they get big bucks to help compensate for their future job loss.

Contrary to what he says, Silver doesn’t give a good rat’s ass about the welfare of his employees, male or female, except for the few in his inner circle. I’m sure that Cuomo and Skelos are just as bad. That’s the nature of employment in general.

There are no heroes, my friend. It’s all self-serving smoke and mirrors. But then you knew that already knew that.

I agree that my proposal need some fine-tuning. I’m not against working out a REASONABLE set of payments and receipts that can be excluded from my transparency database. I just didn’t go into it.