The blog I never thought I would write

As bad as I believe JJOKE is and as corrupt as I think they are in a political sense I never thought that as a body they would sanction the falsification of the records they have been entrusted to obtain and disclose to the public.

I had heard rumors of material purposely being buried on someone's desk and other documents finding their way into the hands of appointing authorities.  I'd even heard of documents being removed from files but I had never heard of JJOKE falsifying documents.  For a lawyer that is the ultimate sin.  And yet I now know that JJOKE has done just that.

If anyone has received a late fee from JJOKE and does not understand how they could have been late when they timely filed let me relate a story that I know of my own knowledge and have heard from others in the lobbying community just recently.

Here is what happens.

A lobbyist has an authorization from a client that has a "start date" in the body of the document that says lobbying may commence on June 1.  The authorization is not signed by the parties until June 15, and the signatures are dated June 15.  A registration is filed with JCOPE under penalty of perjury on June 20 that lists, in the electronic form, June 15 as the start date.  With a June 15 start date it is timely filed since June 20 is within the time required in the lobby act (10 days from payment or 15 days from retention whichever is earlier).  But then lo and behold they get a notice from JJOKE that a late filing fee has been imposed because they filed 20 days after the June 1 start date.  Knowing they filed with a June 15 start date the lobbyist goes to the JJOKE site and surprise, surprise the start date shown has been changed to June 1.

How can this happen you might rightly ask?

That is the question I was asked and the question others that do what I do were asked.

The answer is simple if profoundly disturbing.

JJOKE changed the start date in the electronic filing and then after causing the "late" filing issued the late fee.  It appears that JJOKE  falsified a business record and then tried to profit from their actions.

I'm not a criminal lawyer but I vaguely recall that being a violation of the Penal Code.

So I called Martin Levine who runs that portion of JJOKE and asked him to look into it.

It took him a day but he sent me an email admitting that I was right, a JJOKE employee had changed the start date.  He assured me the fine would be eliminated/reversed/rescinded and the start date corrected.  I told him that wasn't enough.  He needed to identify the JJOKE employee that did this and tell me how many others faced the same issue.  He refused and so began the cover up.  I've since learned of two additional instances where the identical events occurred to other lobbyists.  Clearly a pattern of misconduct has occurred and JJOKE is trying to cover it up.  And by the way it's been two weeks and I haven't received proof that the fine was eliminated/reversed/rescinded nor has the start date been corrected.  Nor has the other lobbying firms that have also notified JJOKE of the falsification.

If anyone out there had a similar JJOKE falsification and late fee happen to them give me a call I'll get that late fee eliminated/reversed/rescinded no charge.

On the heels of Kevin Gagan's firing of an investigator allegedly for looking into the Cuomo crowd on her own I think it's fair to say JJOKE CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO ENFORCE ETHICS OR DISCLOSE LOBBYING ACTIVITY.

And speaking of Gagan he must be sweating today.  Not only did Cathy Webb show up at the meeting yesterday to remind the commissioners of Gagan's Cuomo connection so did a fellow named Thomas Krebs.

Mr. Krebs has an impeccable, impressive resume and a record of success.  And he was at JJOKE to interview for the executive director's job.  He is Marvin Jacobs personal fuck you to Dan Horwitz.  Mr. Krebs is so clearly qualified to scare the shit out of the Albany political establishment that there is no way they hire him.  But he at least got an interview (more than I can accomplish, which in some perverted way I take as a compliment because if he scares them I must terrify JJOKE) actually this is Mr. Krebs second interview.  If my sources are correct he interviewed last time as well before they hired LT.  In fact he was the choice of the search committee last time until Dan Horwitz overruled the search committee and made LT the only choice they could vote on.  Give Marvin credit he doesn't give up.

I don't know Mr. Krebs but neither do all the swinging dicks in Albany's power structure, which is a pretty good start to fix JJOKE.  Even though I don't know Mr. Krebs I am sure he would not falsify business documents nor tolerate a JJOKE employee of supervisor that did.  And given his history I don't think he would Gagan an investigator for looking into a matter on the second floor or the third floor or the penthouse.

Gagan and Horwitz really have their work cut out for them.  Given recent events getting LT the job was a walk in the park.

Hey Dan maybe you should ask LT to come back, try begging.