The Vito Lopez scandal is exposing flaws in Albany’s newfangled ethics law that are backfiring badly on Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. And for his part of the mess, Gov. Cuomo must take his share of blame.
Of course it’s not Cuomo’s fault that Lopez allegedly subjected multiple female staffers to lewd comments and groping.
Of course it’s not Cuomo’s fault that Silver secretly settled sexual harassment charges against Lopez with $103,080 of the taxpayers’ money.
But Cuomo did campaign on a promise to clean up the state Capitol. He personally negotiated the details of the reform law with Silver and Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos.
And when the Legislature passed the law during his first year in office, Cuomo trumpeted the outcome as a “historic step in restoring the public’s trust in government.”
So when the newly created Joint Commission on Public Ethics fumbles badly in handling its very first big case, Cuomo gets a big piece of the responsibility.
The law’s key failing — too much secrecy — was there for all to see on Monday, as JCOPE spent a full two hours debating what, if anything, they could say about their investigation of the Lopez case.
At least I think they were talking about the Lopez case. His name never actually came up, because it’s literally a crime for panel members to discuss who they’re investigating or why.
They did claim that press reports from last week — which said their probe was focusing entirely on Lopez while not looking at Silver’s role — were misinformed. What the real truth was, they did not say.
Clamoring loudest for more disclosure were Silver’s three appointees — who bitterly objected to the implication they were covering for their guy.
The scene was chock full of delicious irony. Silver has thrived in Albany’s secretive style of governing — the hush-hush Lopez settlement being a vivid example.
But now the speaker is Mr. Transparency, obviously believing that his best hope of clearing his name is a full investigation by a credible, independent body.
Trouble is, JCOPE cannot publicly confirm that it’s investigating him or anybody else — thanks to confidentiality rules that Silver himself agreed to and may well have insisted upon. Behind closed doors, naturally.
Talk about being hoist on your own petard.
But Silver isn’t the only one suffering secrecy sickness in the Lopez affair.
Members of the commission itself obviously are obviously uncomfortable operating under rules that make it look like they have something to hide.
Compounding those suspicions is a cockamamie voting system that effectively empowers representatives of Cuomo, Silver and Skelos to block investigations of themselves and their colleagues — and hide behind confidentiality while doing it.
Cuomo himself fed fears about the commission last week when — in reaction to press reports — he threatened to appoint a special commission to probe JCOPE itself if it failed to do a full investigation of the Lopez mess.
That was hardly a vote of confidence from one of the commission’s founding fathers. But then, Cuomo understands that if JCOPE botches the Lopez case, it reflects on his leadership, too.
Which is why he and the Legislature must admit their mistakes and fix JCOPE. As with other prosecuting agencies, its commissioners and staff should have the flexibility to speak openly about their work as necessary for the public good.
Full public accountability is even more crucial if they’re going to allow a small minority of the commission to veto probes.
I’m guessing that even Speaker Silver will see that now.
whammond@nydailynews.com