Mayor Pushes Back Against State Ethics Panel

The Brian Lehrer Show | May 12, 2016

A state ethics panel known as the Joint Commission on Public Integrity is going to court to force the Campaign for One New York, a disbanded non-profit group with ties to Mayor de Blasio's fundraising apparatus, to comply with subpoenas.

Ken Lovett, Albany bureau chief for The Daily News, and Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, discuss the dispute and why the mayor is balking at cooperating with this investigation.

"The whole process of regulating our elected officials and lobbyists is to be sure that [they] are making choices that are based on objective fact and what is best for the majority of people, not what large donors want to see from government," explained Lerner. She said JCOPE has an important mission, regardless of how well it satisfies that mission, and the fact that Mayor de Blasio is pushing back against it should be of concern to New Yorkers.

JCOPE structure is flawed, and Mayor @BilldeBlasio "is not wrong that enforcement appears to be selective" in his case, says @Slerner212.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) May 12, 2016

Albany has been “absent” in establishing even-handed enforcement of campaign finance laws, says @commoncauseny's @Slerner212.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) May 12, 2016

On @PreetBharara: He brought down top republicans, top dems, I don’t think he has a partisan motivation in de Blasio case, says @klnynews.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) May 12, 2016

Gov. Cuomo, @klnynews points out @BrianLehrer, staffed ethics bodies w/ former subordinates not independent enforcers. I'll add "incredible"
— David Moore (@ppolitics) May 12, 2016

"Albany was lawless for so long…Every time someone got away w/ something, it emboldened others to try to get away with even more." @klnynews
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) May 12, 2016

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