Lobbying, ethics probe must be kept mum
First published: Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I am writing to correct two errors in Rick Karlin's article "Pulling a shroud over public integrity probe" (Sept. 3).
First, the article repeats a mistake made by several "good government" groups who believed the Commission on Public Integrity was adopting a rule "regarding holding closed sessions on adjudicatory proceedings," which often involve witness testimony before an administrative law judge. In fact, the commission's rule was, and is, to conduct open adjudicatory proceedings, not to close them.
The article goes on to confuse the rule governing adjudicatory proceedings with the law regarding investigations, which may or may not result in allegations of wrongdoing. As a result of the 2007 enactment of the Public Employee Ethics Reform Act, by law (Executive Law Section 94 (12)) both lobbying and ethics investigations must be kept confidential unless and until they result in any formal allegations of wrongdoing.
Walter C. Ayres
The writer is director of communications for the Commission on Public Integrity