ALBANY – Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s appointees to the state ethics commission blocked a subpoena seeking information about the unpaid volunteers playing an outsized role in the COVID-19 response.
If issued, the proposed subpoena from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics would have sought information about which volunteers aiding Cuomo have been exempted from normal ethics rules under executive orders issued by the governor. The subpoena, which was proposed by JCOPE Commissioner Gary Lavine at a meeting Tuesday, also would have sought information about whether those volunteers ever recused themselves from governmental matters that posed potential conflicts of interest with their day jobs.
Lavine, a Senate Republican appointee to JCOPE, and six other legislatively appointed commissioners voted to issue the subpoena to Cuomo’s office. But Cuomo’s six appointees to JCOPE unanimously voted against the measure, and it failed by one vote.
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