Don't fire 'em, send 'em to jail

The New York Times has an article by Danny Hakim about an unethical ethics panel:

Governor David Paterson called for the resignations of all twelve sitting members of the state’s ethics oversight commission, hours after a blistering report found that the panel’s director repeatedly leaked confidential information about an inquiry into the Spitzer administration to a top Spitzer aide. The report of the state inspector general, Joseph Fisch, concluded that the panel’s director, Herbert Teitelbaum, exchanged at least 165 phone calls and held regular dinners over a five-month period in 2007 with Robert Hermann, a close friend who was a member of Governor Eliot Spitzer’s cabinet. During these conversations, the report said, Mr. Teitelbaum told Mr. Hermann of the progress and details of the inquiry conducted by the panel, the Commission on Public Integrity, into the Spitzer administration’s handling of the travel records of the longtime Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno. Under state law, commission investigations are supposed to be confidential. The report also rebuked the commission for failing to investigate the leaks when presented with evidence of them.
The report came as a devastating blow to efforts to improve the ethical climate in Albany, which has been hit by repeated scandals, corruption allegations, and indictments in recent years. The Commission on Public Integrity was established in 2007, the centerpiece of a push by Governor Spitzer to overhaul how Albany conducts its business, and was, until recently, chaired by John Feerick, the widely respected former dean of Fordham Law School. “This report finds that there has been widespread and continued violation of the public trust,” Mr. Paterson said Wednesday, adding that the report “indicates that the commission failed to remedy or even recognize these breaches of confidentiality.”
Even as Mr. Paterson called for sweeping changes at the commission, including the firing of Mr. Teitelbaum and the resignations of the twelve commissioners, there were signs of resistance. Zachary Carter, a lawyer who is representing the commissioners, said that they had no plans to step down, and that the inspector general “came quickly to an inalterable conclusion about where the truth lay and ignored all evidence that was inconsistent with that stubborn conclusion.” He added, “That an inspector general would carelessly disparage the reputation of the commissioners is an outrage.”
The situation could become complicated because the governor, technically, appoints only seven of the thirteen commissioners, while the comptroller, the attorney general and four legislative leaders each recommend one commissioner to the governor for appointment. None of the other officials immediately supported the governor’s call for the commissioners’ resignations.
The report’s findings entangled some of the state’s most prominent lawyers. The inspector general was critical of the leadership of Mr. Feerick and also disputed statements made by Loretta Lynch, who has served as acting chair of the commission since Mr. Feerick stepped down. Ms. Lynch previously served as United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Senator Charles Schumer recently urged President Obama to reappoint her to the position. And Mr. Hermann is now special counsel for the State Senate majority leader, Malcolm Smith. An aide to Mr. Smith said Wednesday that the majority leader would review the report.
The report comes at a critical time for the commission, which has not yet reached a conclusion regarding ethics charges it brought last year against two former Spitzer administration officials: Darren Dopp, who served as Mr. Spitzer’s communications director, and Preston Felton, who was the acting superintendent of the State Police. The two men are accused of misusing state resources as they helped gather and disseminate details of Mr. Bruno’s travels. And the commission was recently asked by several government watchdog groups to investigate whether the Paterson administration leaked confidential information about Caroline Kennedy during her Senate candidacy. Asked about the Kennedy matter, Mr. Paterson assured reporters Wednesday that the commissioners he appoints “will investigate the situation thoroughly, and I would want them to.”
Mr. Paterson named Michael Cherkasky, who once headed the investigations division of the Manhattan district attorney’s office, to take over the commission immediately; the thirteenth seat on the commission has been open since Mr. Feerick stepped down.
The leaks described in the report provided the Spitzer administration early warnings of politically damaging developments in the investigation. Mr. Teitelbaum, the report said, told Mr. Hermann details of Mr. Dopp’s testimony and about the commission’s concerns that Mr. Dopp had been coerced by other Spitzer administration officials into issuing a false statement. Mr. Teitelbaum also told Mr. Hermann about the commission’s referral of a potential perjury case against Mr. Dopp to the Albany County district attorney, the report said.
The report does not find fault with Mr. Spitzer himself and says that one of his closest aides, Lloyd Constantine, repeatedly ordered Mr. Hermann to stop talking to Mr. Teitelbaum about confidential proceedings. Mr. Constantine and other administration lawyers eventually became so concerned that they sought outside legal advice and reported the leaks to David Soares, the Albany district attorney.
Mr. Carter and Mr. Teitelbaum’s lawyer, James DeVita, suggested that the leak allegations grew out of a desire by high-ranking Spitzer aides to derail the commission’s investigation into the Bruno matter. Mr. DeVita said in a statement that Mr. Teitelbaum “categorically denies having violated his public trust”. Mr. Hermann had no immediate comment on the report. Mr. Fisch, a longtime State Supreme Court judge in the Bronx who was appointed inspector general by Mr. Paterson, sharply criticizes Mr. Teitelbaum in the report, saying that when he was questioned by the inspector general’s staff, Mr. Teitelbaum answered many questions about whether he leaked sensitive information with, “Not that I remember.”
“Such answers from the executive director of the Commission on Public Integrity are not acceptable,” Mr. Fisch writes in his report. And Mr. Hermann is accused in the report of frequently changing his story about how he came to know sensitive information about commission proceedings; telling Mr. Constantine and others that Mr. Teitelbaum told him information and telling various investigators that he learned details from seeing a “yellow pad” in Mr. Teitelbaum’s apartment.
The report is the latest development in the sprawling and seemingly endless story known in Albany as Troopergate. It began in the summer of 2007, when Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found that the Spitzer administration had misused the State Police in gathering records that detailed then the use of State Police cars and helicopters by Mr. Bruno, who was Mr. Spitzer’s chief political foe. Since the investigation began, Mr. Spitzer has resigned amid a prostitution scandal and Mr. Bruno stepped down not long before he was indicted by federal prosecutors on corruption charges.

Rico says if it wasn't so pathetic it'd be funny...