A new study conducted by researchers at the State Policy Advocacy Clinic at Cornell University’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy in conjunction with watchdog group Reinvent Albany found this week that New York’s ethics oversight system remains hindered by structural problems.
Those problems, the report says, can leave watchdog agencies vulnerable to the political officials they oversee and a tangled web of agencies that struggle to collaborate effectively.
The in-depth review, first reported by the Albany Times Union, examined the state’s network of ethics and oversight entities, including elected officials like the attorney general and comptroller, as well as bodies such as the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, Legislative Ethics Commission and Authorities Budget Office.
“We have so many different bodies. Are they working together effectively, and are they as strong as they could be?” said Rachael Fauss, senior policy adviser for Reinvent Albany. “Our answer is no.”
On Wednesday’s episode of Capital Tonight, Fauss and Alexandra Dufresne, director of the State Policy Advocacy Clinic at Cornell University’s Brooks School of Public Policy, delved into the report’s key findings and recommendations.
One problem identified by the study is funding. The report found that inadequate staffing and resources can make it difficult for oversight agencies to do their jobs, while the budget process itself can create potential conflicts as politicians with human instincts mull how much to fund the very offices tasked with policing their actions in office.
“We don’t need ethics bodies worrying about their budgets, especially when they’re investigating the people who determine their budgets,” Fauss said.
Dufresne said funding should be structured in a stable way far from the ebbs and flows of the budget process so ethics bodies are not vulnerable to changing political pressures.
“So that they’re not susceptible to the vagaries of the political whims of any particular moment. You want to insulate the process from the elected who have their own pressure, especially when elections are coming up,” Dufresne said.
The report also found appointees should be better insulated from removal and recommended improving communication among the state’s various oversight agencies.
“Between the various agencies — more communication — a mechanism by which agencies are very clear when they accept a referral for investigation and are very clear and transparent about what they have chosen to do about that,” Dufresne said.
Those involved with the study stressed that many of the challenges are inherent to the size and complexity of New York state government and described the findings as recommendations for strengthening the system, rather than criticism of those currently doing the work.