A Independent Review Committee of fifteen leaders of New York's accredited law schools rejected three of the first ten nominees to the new eleven member Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, the body that will replace JCOPE. The Governor has three appointments, the Senate and Assembly majority each have two, the Senate minority, Assembly minority, Comptroller, and Attorney General each have one.
The nomination of Gary Lavine, the only former JCOPE commissioner by Republican Senate minority Leader Richard Ott, the nomination of Robert Torres former State Supreme Court Judge by Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and the nomination of Emily Jane Goodman former State Supreme Court Judge by Democratic State Attorney General Letitia James were rejected by the panel to the new Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government. No approved names have been released yet.
Ott, Heastie, and James can now either make new nominations to be reviewed by the Independent Review Committee or they could file court challenges of the rejection of their choices to the new Commission. It is unknown what will be done right now.
The new Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government was created during the final days of the state budget negotiations between Governor Kathy Hochul and the Democrat led state legislature in secret. The Governor and state legislature can overrule the Independent Review Committee that was set up, but it is unlikely to be done given the legislature and governor overruling the redistricting Independent Review Committee which caused a special master to draw new district lines after courts ruled the district lines unconstitutional.
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