A monkey could do that job

Well we can all relax  The Artists against Fracking will register as lobbyists . . IF TOLD TO DO SO

Told by whom and why?

This is what happens when Ellen Biben and the rest of the JJOKers fail to perform the job the State of New York is paying them for.  And no I'm not talking about being the 2nd floors personal ethical goon squad. 

Organizations that should be registered and disclosing their lobbying activity don't because they think they only have to register if someone tells them to.

How far New York's lobby regulators have fallen.

I guess you can't blame Yoko and the rest of the limosine liberal jet setters that get involved in drive by advocacy, anymore than you can blame the camo conservative four wheelers that are flocking to the gun debate.  They don't have a clue about what the state's lobby laws require.

And why is that?

Because Biben has wasted over a year pursuing a strategy that basically says JJOKE has no obligation to educate and inform the public about the lobby law. And further JJOKE is too busy being important to focus on lobby registration.

JJOKE's own overpaid mouthpiece John Milgram would not explain for the AP what the lobby law requires when presented with the facts of the Artists against Fracking lobby campaign.

His answer?  Go read the law.

Why does the state pay Milgram over $100000 per year to tell people he can't comment and they should read the law.

A monkey could do that job.   No a monkey may be overqualified all you need is a recording on a loop We don't comment We don't comment We don't comment We don't comment We don't comment We don't comment    Easy $100k saved.

But its not Milgram's fault.  The JOKE has a director of education and training.  She's been on the job for over 9 months, she's a lawyer, she makes close to $100k.  And she hasn't trained a soul, she hasn't prepared any online training material.  I saw her one presentation to the commission it was in a word awful.

A monkey could do that job. No a monkey may be overqualified all you need is a recording on a loop We don't teach We don't teach We don't teach We don't teach We don't teach We don't teach   Another easy $100k saved.

But its not the education director's fault.  The JJOKE has a stable of lawyers all earning close to or more than $100k.  Anyone of them could explain the Lobby Act to the media and/or the public.  Or can they?  I've watched Rob Cohen walk into closets and turn on the mics during executive sessions. And he is suppose to be the best they've got.   I've seen the lawyers attempt to explain source of funding it wasn't pretty.  They had trouble understanding the basic tenets of filing under the act.

A monkey could do that job. No a monkey may be overqualified all you need is a recording on a loop We don't know We don't know We don't know We don't know We don't know We don't know   Another easy couple of $100k saved.

But it's not the lawyers fault.  The JJOKE has a full compliment of investigators who together earn several $100ks.  They could have seen what the Artists against Fracking were doing or what any other number of unregistered lobbyist were up to.  But they didn't they are all too busy investigating how far Vito Lopez's hand went down that girls pants.  It's time consuming to investigate what a pig Vito was.  You have to reread everything that the assembly ethics already wrote. You have to reinterview all the witnesses, giving proper deference to those represented by law partners of JJOKE commissioners.  You have to be able to prove what everyone already knew VITO IS A PIG.

A monkey could do that job. No a monkey may be overqualified all you need is a recording on a loop We don't care We don't care We don't care We don't care We don't care We don't care   Another easy couple of $100k saved.

But it's not the investigators fault.  The JJOKE has an Executive Director.  She has been on the job for over a year.  She earns over $140000 a year.  She is a lawyer with close ties to the 2nd floor.  She could explain the Lobby Act, she could direct that training take place, she could insist that educational material be on the web site, she could assign a lawyer to focus on lobbying, she could tell the investigators to keep an eye out for unregistered lobbyists.  She could even see the opportunity starting an investigation into the Artists against Fracking would provide to use the media to raise awareness of lobby regulations and improve compliance.  She could ask Andrew Cuomo how the investigation into Russel Simmons and the Drop the Rock campaign played out in the media.
At the end of the day it's Ellen Bibens fault that Yoko thinks someone has to tell her group to register.

Unfortunately a monkey CAN NOT do the job of a competent Executive Director for New York's Ethics agency  Ellen Biben has proven that point.

On the upside I think a monkey could do the job of being a JJOKE commissioner.

One last comment at the risk of being seen as an arrogant egomaniac let me see if I can help Yoko et al out.

If you spend more than $5000 advocating for passage or defeat of legislation (or maybe even the intended introduction of legislation whatever that means)  You need to register and file disclosure reports.  The knowing and willful failure to do so may subject you to significant fines (up to $25000 per filing).  Your group has clearly met the threshold  and is lobbying and should be registered and filing disclosure reports.  In July you will have to disclose your source of funding (but don't worry you can lie on the report just ask Susan Lerner and Dick Dadey).

Don't say you were never told to register.