It's time for the governor to admit . . . JCOPE is a failure

JCOPE is holding a public meeting today.

It may run longer than the normal uninformative 15 minutes.

Why is that?

Will they be discussing the most recent greatest in the world ethics reforms that are supposed to be enacted?  NOPE

Will they be discussing the their new role as the body to determine if the disclosure of a  public officials clients will be embarrassing? NOPE

Will they be discussing the enormous backlog of registrations and disclosure reports their inaction has allowed to accumulate? NOPE (and they have increased the pace of their work, they are up to 25 a day - a well trained monkey could do 30 a day)

Will they be discussing all the potential conflicts the existing commissioners have? NOPE

So why will the meeting run long?

Because they are welcoming and introducing a new commissioner and that always takes an extra 5 minutes.  Now if the new commissioner is a no show (always a 50/50 thing) the meeting can take it's normal uninformative 15 minutes.

And it's not like there aren't legitimate public issues to discuss, any of the above could take an hour to go thru but JJOKE chooses not to.  I guess the old adage better to remain silent and be thought a fool than speak and remove all doubt certainly applies to JCOPE.

JCOPE's decision to remain mute is intentional.  All those smart lawyers know they cannot defend their action and/or inaction so they say nothing.  But don't get mad when you provide a vacuume for others to label you.

And I'm going to do just that.

JCOPE IS A FAILURE.

JCOPE is Governor Cuomo's failure. It was one of his first of many claimed ethics reforms and like the others it hasn't worked

JCOPE is Dan Horwitz'z failure.  He hasn't steered the ship away from the icebergs, hell he has not even rearranged the deck chairs.

JCOPE is Gary Lavine's failure.  He hasn't had the courage to share his intellect in public about JCOPE's mission and activity.

JCOPE is George Weissman's failure.  He hasn't aired JCOPE's dirty laundry publicly.

JCOPE is the good government's groups failure.  They continue to play the roll of Charlie Brown to Cuomo's Lucy with ethics as the football.

JCOPE is Carl Heastie's failure.  He hasn't appointed me a commissioner.

And that's not just my oversized arrogant ego talking, it is why JCOPE is a failure.  IT'S NOT THE LAWS OR NEW ETHICS REFORMS IT'S THE PEOPLE MAKING DECISIONS. 

It always was and it always will be.

If it wasn't people we could just do "government reform" and pass new laws to make government more responsive and effective.  Keep all the same corrupt elected officials and everything would be changed.

Changing topics I've figured out a way to fix the JCOPE backlog and a way for elected to keep earning outside income while they trade on their office and avoid embarrassing their clients.  It's all related and I will post it in my next blog.

It could prove to be a real moneymaker for me.

UPDATE  The new commissioner was a no show.  In fact 10 of the 13 commissioners failed to make it to Albany for the meeting.  If these commissioners are no shows is it any wonder the staff are no shows when it comes to doing the work.

And be careful what you ask for.  JJOKE did a 30 minute discussion of outside activity.  The only valuable information?  That the trial lawyers on JJOKE think they are smarter than the other lawyers on JJOKE.  And for the record I have a ficus plant that is smarter than all of them when it comes to ethics.

The JCOPE commissioners should all resign THEY ARE FAILURES  Don't believe me come to a meeting and watch them prove it.