Editorial Board
A spectrum of New York p.r. firms filed suit Tuesday to force the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics to drop its lunatic bid to treat them as lobbyists…
It’s a blatant violation of the First Amendment — no government body has the right to regulate contacts with the press. And even if it weren’t, it’s not the job of unelected bureaucrats to rewrite the law — that’s up to the Legislature.
Mind you, JCOPE made this move at the end of a year that saw Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos each dethroned and convicted of official corruption.
Of course, that was US Attorney Preet Bharara’s good work. JCOPE had nothing to do with it, never mind the words “Public Ethics” in its name. (Indeed, JCOPE’s failed spectacularly to clean up New York politics.) Were the commissioners just bored, or hungry for relevance?
No matter: They’ve proven themselves unfit. Gov. Cuomo and the legislative leaders who appoint JCOPE’s members should get going on replacing these rogues.
