YOU GET A HAIRCUT FOR FREE IT LOOKS LIKE A FREE HAIRCUT

There was a new face at the Star Chamber hearing prosecuting the governor Some guy named Jeff Schlanger

The hearing officer even remarked that she had never seen him before

Was he a new employee of the public integrity commission? Nope

Was he a member of the Attorney Generals staff on loan to the commission? Nope

Was he part of Judge Kaye’s staff there to assure continuity in the parallel investigations into the governor? Nope

Then he must be a lawyer hired by the commission due to a conflict issue after a procurement that followed all the procedures for a state agency obtaining outside counsel? Nope

Well then who was he what was he doing representing the commission and under what authority was he acting?

I’ll answer what I can as to the rest the only answer anyone seems to cite is he was doing it probono so it’s ok

Jeff Schlanger is the head of Keypoint Government Solutions a Colorado company that used to be part of Kroll the same company that Mike the chair used to run

That explains how Jeff got there He’s a buddy of Mike the chair He’s also the treasurer of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s campaign committee and served on Mr. Vance’s transition team with Mike the chair and former commissioner Dan Alonso

Now why was he there?

Was there a conflict issue for the commission staff? If so its not been made public

Does the commission lack the talent or resources to handle this type of investigation? You know my opinion about the talent but resources? They used commission counsel to do the depositions and present part of the case in the star chamber and I saw at least two other commission lawyers in the audience watching the proceedings including top dog Barry Ginsberg so it can’t be that their aren’t enough bodies to do the case

The better question is where does Jeff’s authority come from? Was there a commission vote authorizing the retention of outside counsel? An RFP or RFQ process? Or did Mike the chair just take it upon himself to ask his buddy to help and don’t you dare ask us why after all he did it probono we should thank him for his generosity.

Here’s why it’s important to know the who why and how

Jeff is in a very sensitive position acting as a defacto employee of the commission He doesn’t fill out a financial disclosure form like other commission attorneys who are state employees do He doesn’t have to disclose his other clients or partners so we have no way of knowing if he has a conflict or the appearance of impropriety More importantly if he does something inappropriate like leaking information to potential parties or witnesses (it’s happened before in this commission) does the Inspector General have jurisdiction over his actions? Does the commission have jurisdiction? Is he or his firm subject to the two year revolving door or lifetime bar as a state employee would be?

I know he did it for free but when you get a haircut for free you really can’t complain when others say it looks like you got a free haircut

As an aside its day 7 and you still haven’t answered the simple question of DID THE COMMISSION CHANGE THE WAY IT DETERMINES DUE DATES

Time to investigate if individual commissioners have personal liability for the actions of the commission