Bharara said a key impetus for the prosecutions was the decision of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the two leaders to kill a Moreland Commission
investigating legislative ethics.
Not exact matches
Since then, there have been quite a few high - profile
legislative corruption cases, and when lawmakers balked at passing Cuomo's
ethics package to address that, he created a Moreland Commission to
investigate them.
One theory: By going the
legislative route, he could get political credit for «
ethics reform» while hand - crafting a mechanism that resisted handing the power to
investigate his business to a perceived rival — or anyone, for that matter, who he didn't control.
A government reform group is calling for a state
ethics panel report to be made public, one day after the panel
investigating charges against Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D - Brooklyn) sent a report to the
legislative ethics committee.
Astorino's plan also includes a new
ethics commission to
investigate complaints against lawmakers, and changes to
legislative pensions and compensation.
Eliminate the stratified oversight bodies and establish a single, independent
ethics commission with robust enforcement powers to
investigate and prosecute violations that members of either the executive and
legislative branches commit.»
When Governor Cuomo unceremoniously pulled the plug on the Moreland Act Commission
Investigating Public Corruption as part of a deal with
legislative leaders in exchange for weak
ethics reforms, even the most optimistic New Yorkers were left depressed.
Established in 2011, Jcope oversees the executive and
legislative branches and
investigates violations of state
ethics and lobbying laws.
Cuomo is under increasing pressure to act on
ethics as he shuttered the Moreland Commission that was
investigating legislative misconduct in a 2014 deal with Silver and Skelos — a deal that greatly angered Bharara and appears to have sparked a federal investigation.
However, when the
ethics commission was formed in June, 2011, the accompanying announcement said JCOPE would indeed «have jurisdiction to
investigate potential violations of law by legislators and
legislative employees ``, and deliver its findings to the Legislative Ethics
legislative employees ``, and deliver its findings to the
Legislative Ethics
Legislative Ethics Commission.