The appointment by Gov. Cuomo of a commission to investigate the interplay of money and influence in Albany brought to mind an example that passed without exploration, let alone therapeutic action.
Eight months ago, Chevron, the oil giant, lodged a complaint charging that Controller Tom DiNapoli violated ethical standards by pressuring the company to settle a major court case after taking contributions from Chevron’s opponents.
The company filed its accusations with the ethics watchdog called JCOPE, which Cuomo and the Legislature promised would be a tough sheriff. Among its disappointments has been a failure to pursue the controller’s muscling of Chevron.
Boy, did DiNapoli get in over his head.
In a cause célebre lawsuit, environmental activists alleged that decades ago Chevron’s predecessor company Texaco despoiled a vast region of Ecuador. A court there hit Chevron with an $18 billion judgment in 2011.
Lawyers behind the suit enlisted DiNapoli to use his power as sole trustee of the state pension fund to push the company toward a settlement. From 2008 through 2013, they contributed $68,000 to DiNapoli’s campaign accounts.
While accepting that money, DiNapoli sent letters to the Chevron board and CEO, sponsored multiple shareholder resolutions and wrote a 2011 op-ed for the Huffington Post — all supporting the plaintiffs’ cause.
“Chevron must do what’s right for its investors, and its future viability, by negotiating a fair settlement that restores the company’s reputation,” he wrote, predicting that Chevron faced “a massive payout” in Ecuador.
The pension fund holds some 7.4 million Chevron shares, a stock that has more than doubled in value since DiNapoli took office. Whatever his feelings about the environmental cause, his duty was to maximize returns, not to pressure the company to forfeit billions.
What’s more, the case against Chevron has been crumbling amid evidence of fraud.
According to sworn statements from former judges and consultants, outtakes from a documentary film and analyses of reports, the plaintiffs’ attorneys knowingly exaggerated the scope of contamination, organized the ghostwriting of supposedly independent scientific reports and offered a $500,000 bribe to the judge who issued the $18 billion decision.
Manhattan Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan called the scientific findings used by the Ecuadorian court “unquestionably . . . tainted” and said “there are serious questions concerning the preparation of the judgment itself.”
An investment firm that had been helping to finance the lawsuit has backed out, citing deception. Chevron has filed a racketeering lawsuit against the plaintiffs and their lawyers — a case that Kaplan has set for trial in October.
Clearly, DiNapoli meddled where he did not belong. But did he violate ethics laws, as Chevron publicly alleged?
There has be no action by JCOPE. By law, the panel is supposed vote on investigating complaints within 45 days, then notify the target in writing. DiNapoli’s office says it received no such letter. Chevron attorney Randy Mastro reports that JCOPE requested more information that the company has not yet provided.
That’s no excuse to sit on a credible accusation . JCOPE should investigate on its own terms — not allow Chevron, with its own agenda, to dictate the schedule. DiNapoli deserves clarity, and so do the people of New York.
So add another task to the must-do list for Cuomo’s commission: Get to the bottom of what transgressions, if any, DiNapoli has committed — and figure out why JCOPE is taking so painfully long to do its job.
