August 20, 2021

Incoming Governor Kathleen C. Hochul

NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Incoming Governor Hochul:

As you transition into your new role as Governor of New York State, I urge you to immediately make the
rehabilitation of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) one of your top priorities.

As I am sure you are well aware, JCOPE’s inability and its lack of transparency has caused the public and
elected officials from both parties to completely lose faith in the commission and even, sadly, in
government. Elected officials and their staff are not above the law. The public deserves to know that their
government officials will be held accountable in a non-partisan manner.

JCOPE was created a decade ago, in part, in response to illegal leaks and misuse of state resources. One
cannot help but see the irony considering the circumstances leading to your predecessor’s resignation and
numerous scandals ignored by JCOPE. And it is nothing less than a travesty that next to nothing has been
done to curtail the corruption and malfeasance of elected officials throughout this state - as is evident from
the number of elected officials that have resigned in disgrace since its implementation.

At this critical juncture, we believe it is vital for this body to continue seeking accountability on the
following: the outrageous cover-up of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes; the numerous allegations of
sexual harassment as well as the related attempt to silence and/or intimidate victims; the misuse of state
resources and employees to write a book that personally enriched Governor Cuomo; the COVID-19 testing
effort that involved close friends, family members and allies of Governor Cuomo; the use of a Cuomo
political “enforcer” to oversee the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, at the same time he was contacting
local officials to gauge their political support for the embattled Governor; and, the structural safety issues
with the Mario Cuomo Bridge.

With these major scandals and critical issues are still waiting to be addressed, it is clear that the need for
JCOPE to operate with integrity, openness and accountability has never been greater. With this in mind,
JCOPE needs to be completely rehabilitated and investigations into Andrew Cuomo related to these
scandals must move forward swiftly and transparently.
Under its current structure, the Governor exerts outsize control on the decision making and operations of
JCOPE. Your comments regarding cleaning up the toxic environment in the Governor’s office leads me to
hope that you are more amenable to revamping JCOPE than your predecessor ever was. As such, I would
encourage you to seek the resignations of the commissioners appointed by Andrew Cuomo and replace
them with your own.

In its current form JCOPE is a waste of taxpayers’ dollars and it is absolutely critical that the overhaul of
JCOPE is one of your top priorities when you enter office as Governor of New York on August 24, 2021.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Senator Anthony Palumbo

Ranking Member of Codes and Ethics and Internal Governance