The Short Arm of the Law!                                            June 2005

This moment is about how to avoid an ethics violation! Heresy? Maybe so, but here it is. Move to New York State, commit an unethical act as a public official, and then resign your position. Yes, it's that simple. The New York State ethics law, which is often touted as among the oldest and strongest, allows public officials who are charged with an ethics violation to stop the New York State Ethics Commission from investigating once an official leaves public office. A loophole in the law "grants most employees immunity when they leave the state payroll--no matter what their actions while on the job", asserts New York Times reporter Michael Slackman. Hard to believe? You bet.

About 50 cases have been voided over the past decade in this manner. The cases involve a high ranking university official (the former President of SUNY at Albany), a Long Island Rail Road administrator, and a former general counsel in the Department of Transportation. They simply walked away from an ethics investigation, although the former SUNY president claims that was not the reason she moved on. The Long Island Rail Road administrator said she choose to retire rather than spend a lot of money to prove her innocence. The former general counsel said he left state government for personal reasons. Go figure!

How many other states allow their public officials to avoid an ethics investigation in this fashion? All? Most? Remember those old-time western movies about how no outlaw was beyond the grasp of the long arm of the law? Apparently times change--the short arm of the law prevails in New York State and perhaps many other states.
 

Source: New York Times, February 25, 2005:A21.