ALBANY — The battle between the Legislature and Gov. Cuomo‘s anti-corruption commission is set to explode Friday.
The Senate and Assembly plan to jointly file papers in Manhattan Supreme Court to quash subpoenas from the commission that seek detailed information on lawmakers’ outside income and clients, according to sources.
Private lawyers representing the legislators will argue that the subpoenas are overreaching, violate the constitutional separation-of-powers edict and seek protected client information, sources said.
They will also charge that the panel is improperly browbeating the Legislature into accepting an ethics reform deal, they said.
“It’s about protecting the institution of the Legislature,” said one source.
Following a spate of legislator arrests this spring, Cuomo repeatedly warned he would use the state Moreland Act to form a corruption-probing commission unless the Legislature passed an ethics package. After lawmakers balked, Cuomo created the panel in July.
Commission co-chairman William Fitzpatrick and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office will represent the panel, have said they are confident the subpoenas are legal.
Cuomo has said the credibility of the commission likely rests with the outcome of the subpoena fight.
It’s expected the law firms and other businesses of the lawmakers will also file to fight subpoenas they received.
The deadline to file had twice been extended as the two sides negotiated to see if a deal could be reached on an ethics package or to limit the scope of the subpoenas.
The talks failed, leading to Friday’s expected filings.
The Senate Republicans previously filed papers to quash a separate subpoena seeking information on one of its campaign spending accounts. The Assembly Democrats received a similar subpoena but did not fight it, sources said.
The commission is due to issue its preliminary findings to Cuomo on Dec. 1.