Ev Liebman

November 14, 2007 - 7:09pm

Ethics panel to review campaign season complaints

Tags: Ellen Karcher, Alex DeCroce, Jennifer Beck, Nelson Albano, Gerald Cardinale, Mike Premo, Jeff Van Drew, Ev Liebman, Richard Dennison, Ingrid Reed

Remember all those ethics complaints during the campaigns? Wonder what happens to them?

We’ll see tomorrow, when the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards meets to rule on the five complaints that have been filed since the committee last met. But if history is any guide, they’ll mostly be dismissed.

While legislators who sit on the committee say that complaints occasionally have at least some level of validity, some say they’re filed more to get a headline in the heat of a campaign rather than pointing out a real, troubling ethical infraction. They also say they’ve noticed it happening more often in recently, with candidates taking advantage of a committee – one with a reputation for being toothless and ineffective -- for their political ends.

Indeed, 2007 was the year of the ethics complaint, with 10 filed so far- the most of any year on record, going back to 1972. Five have been settled, all of which were dismissed.

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