Cuomo’s Sandy Berger Problem

Back in 2006, a senior Clinton administration official went to the National Archives. This official proceeded to rip pages out of certain classified reports and stuff them down his pants. He did this on several occasions and was ultimately caught and convicted of a misdemeanor charge.

The official, Sandy Berger, acknowledged that he was doing this on behalf of the President, a fact that was spelled out in detail in a subsequent Congressional report.

The question now is whether the Cuomo administration has a Sandy Berger or two in its midst? Why, after all, were Linda Lacewell and Josh Vlasto spending hours in the State Archives and removing documents from public view?

Now the parallels here aren’t exact. Berger was actually destroying government records, whereas the Cuomo minions apparently were trying to keep them from public view. But the core conduct is the same: Government officials are trying to hide something.

Some explanation is in order here: Supposedly the Times Union stumbled over a memo written by Lacewell a few days after the original Troopergate report came out in July of 2007. The Lacewell memo reportedly cites things that were left out of the AG’s report – including some tidbits that might have changed the way people looked at Joe Bruno. Remember that Cuomo’s report gave Bruno a pass for his use of the state airplane and slammed the Spitzer people for releasing travel information.

The question now is will Governor Cuomo take a page from President Clinton’s playbook and sacrifice the offending minions to avert a potential Watergate type scandal or will he tough it out and hope that the documents removed never surface and if they do they are not damning?

And that calculation is wholly dependent on what documents Ms. Lovelace and Mr. Vlasto removed from the archives.

Now this isn’t my fight, I’ve got no horse in this race other than the fact that I truly believe Andrew Cuomo is the finest New York political leader I have ever been witness to.  And it is with that thought in mind and the fervent hope, as I have said in the past, that he does not get tripped up by an ethics scandal that I offer the following unsolicited advice.

If it’s just a bunch of schedules and memos about web traffic, tough it out.  It will just be chalked up as more Cuomo control over information stories, with a sidebar about how the Times Union and New York Times are making a mountain out of a molehill.

But if there is a memo detailing the fact that the original Troopergate report (written by Biben and Lacewell) was tailored to exonerate Bruno’s use of the state helicopter and focus attention on Spitzer’s spying by omitting key facts about Bruno’s actual improper use of those state helicopters then Governor Cuomo should act swiftly to fire both Lacewell and Biben.

Now of course if we had a real ethics panel in place they could do a thorough investigation of this matter.

But there’s no way Ellen Biben is going to touch this one. She’d be investigating herself and her former partner Lacewell. Fat chance.

This is yet another example of what a do-nothing joke JJOKE has become. It’s also further evidence of why Biben is wrong for the job.

As an aside I always wondered why John Milgram had then AG Cuomo call me in August of 2007 to try to get me to retract the statements I made in this story http://www.nydailynews.com/news/watchdog-nips-cuomo-probe-article-1.237397

Could it be related to that mystery memo that Jim Odato has?

Ravi can't help himself

Ravi responds to everyone but me

Read it here http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/141517/from-the-desk-of-ravi-batra/

Ordinarily I would be upset that Ravi had the time to answer the Times Union before he answered my questions but I'm laughing too hard to get upset.

Unless I'm mistaken if you translate Ravi speak into english it basically says and I'm paraphrasing

Hey Ellen Biben go f*** yourself.

BIBEN TO THE RESCUE

Another weekend another ethical glitch at JCOPE.

Last weekend it was the computer filing system that experienced a “glitch”.  BTW it wasn’t a glitch it was pure managerial incompetence.  If you run out of disk space the weekend before a filing deadline someone or someone’s didn’t do their job.  If it takes upper management a full day to realize it they are asleep at the switch or out of touch with their customers.

This weekend the ethical “glitch” is wholly owned by the head of JJOKE, Ellen Biben.  Reacting to an editorial in the Times Union, Ms. Biben authored a letter to the editor titled “No conflict at ethics group”.  I think it’s great that Ms. Biben is sharing with the common folk her view of “Ravigate”.  Finally we get to see what the head of JJOKE thinks.

Not surprisingly she comes to the defense of her chairwoman, while at the same time giving Ravi a mini slap.  The long and the short of it is that the head of New York’s ethics agency thinks Ravi overreacted and the chairwoman reacted appropriately.

Taken to its logical extreme Biben believes a commissioner could work for or have as clients lobbyists as long as they recuse themselves “when appropriate”.  She may even be technically correct under the Act, but the problem arises when they don’t recuse.  For example, DiFiore presided over the hearing on source of funding.  If the District Attorneys Association should be registered lobbyists I’m sure it would have been “appropriate” for DiFiore to recuse.  She didn’t.

Ms. Biben assures us that JJOKE will continue to hold ITSELF to the highest ethical standards.  Whew, I feel better now, it sounds as if Lloyd Constantine and the Spitzer crowd are back in office.

Putting aside that bit of arrogance for the moment, and trust me I will return to it, Ms. Biben also shows us her command of the Lobby Act when she states that the chairwoman, as a sitting District Attorney, would be exempt from the definition of a lobbyist when acting as a “public official discharging her official duties”.  Biben happens to be correct except that the exemption does not relieve the District Attorneys Association itself from the registration requirements of the Act if they or their members and/or officers lobby and exceed the threshold.

And therein lays this weekend’s glitch.  Don’t worry about the chairwomen resigning from this organization or other organizations that she and/or other commissioners are members of, focus on the fact that JJOKE and Biben should be investigating if the District Attorneys Association should be registered as a lobbyist!!!!!   That’s the fundamental fact that Biben et al are ignoring. And have been ignoring since DiFiore got appointed to JJOKE.

Now back to that scrutiny that Biben seems to be encouraging.  How about explaining what you have been up to since you where appointed over 4 months ago, or what the commission has been doing for the last 6 months that it has been in existence.

I listed over 30 questions for Ravi, why don’t you hold a press conference the next time you are in Albany and answer some of them, or better yet let the media have 30 minutes of your time at the next secret commission meeting to ask you whatever they want.

The questions could range from why you fired longtime lobby commissioner staffers to where you operated from before you opened the new expensive New York City command center.  Maybe you can even go back in time and explain if you spoke to the governor’s office about the Libous investigation or who leaked the fact that there is a Libous investigation or go back further and explain your role in troopergate.  Is it possible you knew more about what really happened with Bruno’s state plane trips than the AG’s report stated?  I wonder what was in those papers Lacewell removed from the archives.

Having posed those questions I want to congratulate Ms. Biben for sharing her thoughts on the Times Union editorial.  Keep up the transparency the more you share the more we know.

Ravi Batra vs John Milgram

Sources inside JJOKE tell us that a mini civil war is breaking out between the ever quotable Ravi Batra and the ever smokeable John Milgram.

The subject?

The surprisingly good press Ravi has garnered for his alleged resignation from the New York State Trial Lawyers.

Which of course has resulted in not surprising bad press for JJOKE Chairwomen Janet DiFiore and the JJOKE in general.

Lobbying in this establishment? I'm shocked!

Word is from inside the JOKE that Milgram is trying to muzzle Ravi.  Protect his turf and let the other commissioners know that they speak at their peril.

The powers that be want one voice and one message and that's John "smokestack" Milgram.

Ravi on the other hand actually believes he has a first amendment right to say whatever he wants.

You gotta love that amendment.

I'm rooting for Ravi.  But I'm betting on Milgram.

Say what you want about Milgram, and I have, but JJOKE has not said anything of substance for six months.

They've been silent about:

secret meetings,
the chairpersons parking tickets,
the vote for Biben,
where Biben was for the first trhree months,
where the NYC office is and why they have one,
The Libous investigation,
why they fired old lobby commission staffers,
the need for a chief economist,
source of funding rules,
business relationship rules,
Uncle Vinny's hiring practices,
what happened with the filing system this weekend,
the list goes on and on

So if Milgram's job is to keep a lid on disclosure he is a master, you have to wonder why someone this talented has worked his way off the second floor and into JJOKE.

But Ravi has a talent too.

It should make for a good fight.

Milgram by any other name is still an A-Hole

If Ravi or anyone else has any doubt that John Milgram is an a-hole just read this email exchange I have been having with the human smokestack a/k/a JJOKE PIO Johm Milgram.  Now remember this started when I asked Milgram for the financial disclosure reports of JJOKE commissioners and employees required to file those reports.  Milgram told me at a commission meeting that I needed to specify which employees.  I asked him for a list of employees and he told me to make a document request, which I did.    After waiting a reasonable amount of time and not receiving the list I started requesting reports for those employees that I knew by name and this is what happened:

"Dear Mr. Grandeau,

In response to your July 6 records request identifying financial disclosure statements for certain Commission staff members, and pursuant to Executive Law §94(19)(a) and the Commissions guidelines for accessing publicly available records at http://www.jcope.ny.gov/law/recordsaccess.html, copies of the documents you requested will be available for you at the Commission's reception desk at start of business Monday, July 16, upon receipt of a check made out to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics for $5.75 (23 pages at $0.25 per page).

Mr. Milgram
Am I to understand from your response that Ms. Clemente's financial disclosure report is 63 pages? As the commission waives copying fees for the first 40 pages I would be happy to pay for the 23 additional pages. If however Ms. Clemente's report is less than 40 pages I would request an explanation for the commission's change in policy regarding copy fees.
If the response is in reference to one of the other 4 seperate request I made on July 6 please so identify which request you are responding to.
If you are responding to all 5 seperate requests I made on July 6 as one request you are mistaken and I would ask that they be treated seperately and provided seperately.
David Grandeau




Mr. Grandeau,

Your public document request submissions of July 6 are considered part of one public document request submitted on your behalf and indeed appropriately and reasonably describe specific documents you were seeking in a broader request of May 16. As per the Commission's guidelines for accessing publicly available records at http://www.jcope.ny.gov/law/recordsaccess.html, copies of documents requested are assessed a fee of $0.25 per page, with no fee assessed for the first 40 pages. The 23 pages are in addition to the 190 pages already provided to you as part of the same request, and for which you paid $37.50 in copying fees ($0.25 per page for 150 pages). Copies of the additional 23 pages of documents you requested (financial disclosure statements of five specific Commission staff members) are available for you upon receipt of a check made out to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics for $5.75 (23 pages at $0.25 per page). This decision may be appealed pursuant to the Commission’s records access guidelines as referenced above.

Mr Milgram

How do you know that the 5 seperate document requests made on July 6 are part of the "broader request" of May 16?

If you can now fulfill the "broader request" of May 16 please do so immediately as it has been over 30 days since it was made.

To the extent you cannot fulfill the broader request please disregard it and provide me the list of employees I requested over 21 days ago and we can start this kabuki dance all over again.

David Grandeau"

Now I'm sure it's possible that Milgram is not to blame and some lawyer, maybe even one related to a commissioner is to blame, but it was Milgram that I am told is handling this request.

Now I am always open to suggestions if anyone has a better word than asshole to describe the foregoing feel free to let me know.

By the way I can't wait to pay the money and get my hands on these reports.

 

You owe me a consulting fee JJOKE

Sometime after the blog last night that the JJOKE system was broke it got fixed.

Congrats somebody must have gotten the call after the blog was read to get out of bed (in Albany because none of the New York City JJOKErottis are driving to Albany to do the work) and cleared disk space.

Now would it be too much to ask that Head JOKEster, Ellen Biben, get John Milgram to issue a press release explaining what happened, who caught the error, how it was fixed and what the JOKE will be doing to accomodate the lobbying community that were without the ability to file reports for an entire day just prior to a filing deadline?

An apology would be smart.

Who do I send my consulting fee invoice to?

I'd say forget it but that might be seen as an illegal gift.

Instead of trying to get paid  I'm going to change focus from Biben, Uncle Vinny, the chief economist and Phd and the rest of the overpaid JOKEeratti to the people that are truly responsible for the JOKE being foisted on all of us. . . That would be the appointing authorities that picked the clowns in this three ring circus.

With all due respect might I suggest that while moving on to fix campaign finance you spend a moment and revisit your past triumph of fixing ethics.

While you are tweaking the law consider sh*tcanning the appointees

BECAUSE ITS THE PEOPLE not the law that really matter.

WELCOME TO JJOKE

What you see when you try to file reports on the JJOKE website

Server Error in '/lrr' Application.

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Could not load file or assembly 'EO.Web' or one of its dependencies. There is not enough space on the disk. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070070)

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'EO.Web' or one of its dependencies. There is not enough space on the disk. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070070)

Source Error:

[No relevant source lines]

Source File: c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\lrr\91989dde\8239d5e8\App_Web_default.aspx.cdcab7d2.c37zxkvq.0.cs Line: 0

Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly 'EO.Web' could not be loaded.

WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF. To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1. Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging. To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].

Stack Trace:

[FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'EO.Web' or one of its dependencies. There is not enough space on the disk. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070070)] System.Reflection.Assembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, Assembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection) +0 System.Reflection.Assembly.InternalLoad(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean forIntrospection) +416 System.Reflection.Assembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean forIntrospection) +166 System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(String assemblyString) +35 System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective) +190 [ConfigurationErrorsException: Could not load file or assembly 'EO.Web' or one of its dependencies. There is not enough space on the disk. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070070)] System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective) +11221304 System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAllAssembliesFromAppDomainBinDirectory() +388 System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssembly(AssemblyInfo ai) +232 System.Web.Configuration.AssemblyInfo.get_AssemblyInternal() +48 System.Web.Compilation.CompilationUtil.GetTypeFromAssemblies(AssemblyCollection assembliesCollection, String typeName, Boolean ignoreCase) +166 System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetType(String typeName, Boolean throwOnError, Boolean ignoreCase) +362 System.Web.UI.Page.get_ScriptManagerType() +61 System.Web.UI.Page.get_IsPartialRenderingSupported() +74 System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseValidator.RegisterValidatorCommonScript() +36 System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +108 System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +224 System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +224 System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +11051320 System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +11051018 System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest() +91 System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) +240 ASP.default_aspx.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) in c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\lrr\91989dde\8239d5e8\App_Web_default.aspx.cdcab7d2.c37zxkvq.0.cs:0 System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +599 System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +171

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Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.3625; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.3634