Did Melissa DeRosa violate the Public Officers Law? Or you just got Dopped Melissa

Melissa DeRosa is employed by the State of New York as the press secretary to Governor Andrew Cuomo.  This is an important point because as an employee of the executive branch she is subject to Public Officers Law section 74 (3) (c) and (d).  Which means she should not disclose confidential information and/or use her position to secure unwarranted privileges or exemptions for another.

I'm pretty sure she has done one or the other or maybe both.

How can I make that statement?

Read below Melissa's statement to the AP's Mike Gormley about the NYPIRG allegation that political parties should be required to register if they lobby.

"It has been well settled that the lobbying law does not apply to political parties," said Cuomo spokeswoman Melissa DeRosa. "This was confirmed by JCOPE and its predecessor agencies, and every credible expert on the topic knows it," she added, referring to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics."

Now lets analyze it.

"It has been well settled that the lobbying law does not apply to political parties"  Nothing wrong with this statement.  It's not accurate or truthful but that is what pr flacks like Melissa do for a living.

"This was confirmed by JCOPE"   UH OH Now Melissa has a big problem.  When and how did JCOPE confirm it?   I study this stuff and read everything JCOPE releases publicly, and plenty of stuff they keep secret, and I know for a fact that JCOPE has never confirmed that "the lobbying law does not apply to political parties" publicly.

Which leads to only two possible conclusions.

One that JCOPE secretly confirmed that "the lobbying law does not apply to political parties".  In which case Melissa just disclosed confidential information a violation of section 74 (3)(c).  Why JCOPE would have confirmed this statement confidentially is another violation for another day.

Or

Two that JCOPE never confirmed that "the lobbying law does not apply to political parties".  In which case Melissa just used her official position to lie and try to secure an unwarranted privilege or exclusion for another, a violation of section 74 (3)(d). 

Either way Melissa has a big problem except for the fact that it is JJOKE that would be prosecuting this case and "It has been well settled that JJOKE doesn't apply the Public Officers Law to the top staff on the 2nd floor ," and "This was confirmed by JCOPE and its predecessor agencies, and every credible expert on the topic knows it,".

And I apologize for plagiarizing Ms. DeRosa but I could not have said it better myself.

And speaking of plagiarism maybe Blair Horner should turn this blog entry into a complaint he can file at JJOKE . . . again.

JUNE 14 2013

That was the date that I posted on the blog that JJOKE should be investigating a whole bunch of unregistered lobbyists, among them the state democratic committee.

Don't say I didn't give everyone a heads up

Here's what I wrote

Unregistered lobbyists does JJOKE care? does the media care? why should I care?

Back in the old days this time of year brought lots of unregistered lobbyist cases to investigate. All I needed to do was listen to the radio, watch television, drive around and see the billboards. Old habits die hard and I still make note of all the lobby ads and occasionally see who isn't registered. I wonder if anyone at JJOKE does that? I wonder if anyone in the media does?

Well it's not my job and unless someone is paying me to help or hurt an unregistered lobbyist I should just mind my own business, but old habits die hard so here is one last list of unregistered lobbyists I'd be looking at if the lobby commission still existed. Hope it helps whomever still cares about this sort of thing.

Artists Against Fracking - Yoko Ono . . . hot issue celebrity involvement make it a good case to look at http://artistsagainstfracking.com/

Fair Elections for New York coalition . . .hot issue celebrity involvement make it a good case to look at http://fairelectionsny.org/dontcomehome/

New York State Democratic Party . . . it doesn't get any bigger possible gift to public official is a bonus http://auburnpub.com/blogs/eye_on_ny/video-gov-andrew-cuomo-s-clean-up-albany-television-ad/article_d65fc416-b80c-11e2-b68b-001a4bcf887a.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Feminists Choosing Life of NY Action, Inc. . . the top issue today http://statepolitics.lohudblogs.com/2013/04/10/anti-abortion-billboards-coming-soon-to-albany-interstates/

I could go on and on but for anyone interested its a good start and for JJOKE it represents 10 Vito Lopez investigations worth of time and energy

"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us"

AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED BY DAVID GRANDEAU

That's a phrase Jim Odato and the Times Union ought to be gracious enough to use when they report on something 7 hours after I have posted on the blog. http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/JCOPE-leader-ballot-splits-commission-9-5-4941143.php

I posted the 5 NO votes on Letizia Tagliafierro's appointment as executive director of JJOKE at 3:14 pm.

If you want to know whats going on with JJOKE Jim just call me I'll tell you and save you the trouble of ripping off my reporting.

Now to the important stuff and Jim you may want to take notes so you can report as if it is your exclusive.

I've narrowed down the vote flippers (the ones that were NO until something made them YES)

It's 2 of the following 3 (and it may be all 3 if David Renzi voted NO which I'm told he did)

Gary Lavine
MaryLou Rath
Joseph Covello

Now what a real reporter would do is find out what these 3 Republicans had in common when it comes to there vote.

I've spoken to Gary enough times to know that his was not a vote of conscience if he voted yes.

Something else got people to switch votes and if I had to guess I would guess that it involved a violation of the Public Officers Law

But what do I know?

I do know the only way to serve on an ethics agency and sleep well is to act independently with integrity.

Given that measure I'm sure Ellen Yarashefsy, Marvin Jacobs, George Weismann, Renee Roth, Pat Bulgaro, and Ravi Batra are sleeping like babies.

Lavine, Rath, Covello, Horwitz, Uncle Vinnie, Arroyo, Hormozi, DeArcy and Knox not so much ... here is a song for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD-E-LDc384

And Mariano is not coming in to save you he is there to close out JJOKE

Don't worry about bedbugs worry about subpoenas

That didn't take long

Using my super spy skills and technological gadgets that I have in place in the JJOKE conference room, my dedicated analysts have deciphered the data and determined who voted AGAINST LT for the JJOKE executive director job.

And it's more than you think.

5 NO votes during the super secret enclave before we got the white smoke.

What makes this interesting is that at least 2 yes votes had been no votes last time so who flipped and why?

It really cries out for LT to investigate her own appointment.

Put the commissioners under oath and ask who they spoke with and what they were promised or threatened with.

The real problem for LT is that over 1/3 of her commissioners DO NOT WANT HER   ouch

Well I can tell you from experience (many times more than half of my commissioners did not want me) your best protection LT is to do your job in a very public way and be judged by your actions.

For example hold a press conference and tell us what you plan on doing at JJOKE.   I've been watching JJOKE for years and have not heard you say one word.

Find your voice.

By the way I really don't have any bugs or spy's its just that JJOKE leaks like a sieve and I know who to ask.

All you disgruntled commissioners and employees keep the intel coming I found my voice a long time ago.

Congrats to LT

My insiders have reliably informed me that LT will be named the next executive director of JJOKE.

A deal was struck and several legislative appointees will vote for LT after months of refusing to do so.

Only a couple of questions are left to be answered.

Will the no votes insist on the vote being done in public?

Will the no votes at least be able to discuss in public the process?

Will the yes votes explain to the public why we should believe LT will be independent of the Cuomo administration?

Will the legislative appointees explain why they changed their votes and what caused them to make that change?

Why is LT the right candidate now when she has been the wrong candidate for 6 months?

I am especially interested in Gary Levine's public discussion of the questions posited above.

Anyway congrats to LT I'm not sure why you would want the job under these circumstances but I guess you have your reasons.

And who knows you may turn out to be a breath of fresh air after Herb Teitelbaum, Barry Ginsberg and Ellen Biben.  If not I'll be sure to be talking about it in the blog

As to the commissioners until you explain what took so long I'm going to be a cynic and assume Uncle Vinny found some takers for that piece of business he was shopping or Dan came up with something better or this deal got cut at much higher levels and everyone is just following orders.

At this point it doesn't matter the public has lost faith in JJOKE  that's why the governor created MOREJOKE.

It's like an ethics groundhog day and I'm Bill Murray.

OLD NEWS

Jim Odato had a paragraph in his column today about JJOKE

Waiting and hoping within JCOPE
Another government panel that meets in private and divided on issues is meeting Tuesday. A few people within and close to state government with ties to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics say the commissioners are planning to try another vote on the preferred candidate for executive director, Letizia Tagliafierro. She is JCOPE's director of investigations and is a protege of the Cuomo administration. Tagliafierro, a lawyer who has handled external and governmental affairs for Cuomo's gubernatorial and attorney general operations, couldn't get enough votes in a commission meeting earlier this year, according to a person in the legal community briefed on the matter.
The commission may take up the executive director issue at its regularly scheduled meeting in Albany, two people familiar with the matter say.

I've written about this before every JJOKE meeting since this summer.  It really is old news.

I even know from my inside sources how the vote will go tomorrow and who is voting for and against, I know which legislative appointees have been told to vote for LT and why.  The only question I have about tomorrow is will it be done in public?

The outcome of tomorrows vote is not nearly as important as the questions the media should be asking such as:

Why has it taken 6 months?

What changed since the last meeting?  Did LT become more or less appealing?

Has anyone from the governor's office lobbied for LT?

Is anyone thinking about how difficult it will be for LT to lead after this delay and her obvious connection to the Governor.

And someone should ask LT why she wants to do this job?  There really is no upside anymore . . . trust me no upside.

Morejoke who are they and what are they doing but we support them

Thats the latest takeaway from the recent Sienna poll.  We don't know what the Moreland Commission is or what they are doing but they should keep doing it.

Explain to me again why one person one vote makes sense.

And did you see the comments from Co-Chair Rice's campaign?  They will not solicit money from those being investigated IF THEY KNOW WHO THEY ARE FROM THE MEDIA

Are you f***ing kidding me?

Doesn't Ms. Rice have anyone in the campaign responsible to avoid conflicts in fundraising?

What do they do fundraise from those about to be indicted unless the media writes a story.

I thoght it was toungue in cheek when I warned Morejoke not to solicit donations from those that were being investigated, but now I'm hearing that is exactly what some have done.

In their honor and as a reward for their stupidity here is my thought for MOREJOKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_50-gOeBilc

And the sooner the better