During the past year of reporting and commentary on “Troopergate”, many have criticized the various government agencies involved in investigating the matter.
Fred Dicker of the Post, Michael Godwin of the News and the Post Editorial Board say the Albany County District Attorney was said to be too partisan because he was a Democrat.
Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice says that Attorney General Cuomo was not to be trusted because he probably wants to become Governor.
Many have criticized the State Commission on Public Integrity because its Chairman was appointed by Governor Spitzer.
But last week, the NY State Commission on Investigations announced they were going to investigate the investigations and everybody seemed to be happy. After all, this is a non-partisan, independent law enforcement agency, isn’t it?
Not exactly!
The SIC has 6 part-time members, 2 appointed by the Governor, 2 appointed by the State Senate Majority Leader and 2 appointed by the Assembly Speaker. In order to insure the absence of partisanship, no more than 3 members may be registered in the same political party.
Let’s examine the background of these “independent” commissioners.
One is former Republican Assemblyman.
Two are former Democratic Assemblymen.
There is also one former Counsel to a Republican State Senator and the former Campaign Manager for a Republican Mayor.
And the most recent appointee is George Pataki’s former Chief of Staff and present business partner.
These guys (and they are all White guys) seem more like politicians than non-partisan law enforcement professionals.
And while the law requires that more than 3 be registered in the same political party, there are 4 Republican operatives on the Commission.
How that happened tells us plenty about how Albany operates – violating the spirit of the law and winking at the letter of the law.
Governor Pataki filled a vacancy on the Commission by appointing his former Chief of Staff and present business partner to the body on New Years weekend, right before Spitzer’s taking office.
To get around the pesky law that would have made that appointment illegal, the Commission Chairman, who served 7 terms as a Republican Assemblyman and was a registered Republican for over 50 years, just happened to switch his Party registration from Republican to blank (no Party).
I have not read about any of these SIC shenanigans in any New York papers as we await the results of their investigation into what the other investigators did wrong.