Enforceable Laws? What A Concept!

From WAMC, Northeast Public Radio

A New York state assemblyman introduced legislation today to dissolve the Committee on Open Government and replace it with a commission that has enforcement powers. He says the bill was prompted by the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel’s alleged closed government tactics.

Democratic Assemblyman from Orange County James Skoufis introduced his Integrity in Government Act standing with a number of local elected officials. He says the bill would replace the state Committee on Open Government with a commission that has the power to bring enforcement actions, to fine elected officials who abuse the Open Meetings Law and compel the release of records of municipalities that do not abide by the Freedom of Information law. Skoufis cites the Village of Kiryas Joel as the driving force behind his proposed bill.

“Right in our backyard, the Village of Kiryas Joel has proven time and time again that they have no respect for the Open Meetings Law and for the Freedom of Information Law,” says Skoufis. “They are flagrant violators of both of these laws.”

Credit WAMC, Allison Dunne

Paul Larrabee is spokesman for the Village of Kiryas Joel. He says it is up to the legislature to decide the merits of the bill, yet questions the motive behind it.

“Many of the participants at today’s event have been long-term adversaries of the Village of Kiryas Joel with clearly different political agendas,” says Larrabee. “And it is the premature conclusion of an open and transparent environmental process that causes many to have concern today about their motivation.”
The process to which he refers is the current proposal to annex 507 acres in the Town of Monroe to Kiryas Joel. The village was designated as lead agency to oversee the State Environmental Quality Review. Skoufis says passage of his bill is critical to ensure an open and transparent process for this proposal. Executive Director of the Committee on Open Government Robert Freeman says he provided input for aspects of Skoufis’s legislation and that there would be a monetary cost.

“Every state has some sort of a Freedom of Information Law, an Open Meetings Law. They’re all different. There’s only one state, and it’s Connecticut, that has a created a quasi-judicial kind of committee that has the power to decide. And, to the best of my knowledge, it has a staff of approximately 20. Its budget is at least a couple of million dollars,” Freeman says. “And if we extrapolate in New York, we think about the size of the state physically, we think about the population of approximately 20 million, my question is what would it cost to carry out this function in New York? My guess is that the cost would be more than significant.”
As opposed to his committee’s current cost.

“We are free. In fact the staff of this office is only two of us,” says Freeman. “The cost of us running this office is less than a penny per person per year in New York.”

Credit WAMC, Allison Dunne

Skoufis affirms there will be a cost, but does not yet have a dollar figure. Freeman says there is another issue.

“Kiryas Joel is an aberration. It’s an aberration,” says Freeman. “And my hope would be that there are other methods, perhaps, that might be available to encourage compliance.”

Republican Orange County Legislator John Vero laments Kiryas Joel’s alleged continued Open Meetings and Freedom of Information Laws violations.

“It’s somewhat disturbing that a bill has to be proposed to the Assembly to enforce this,” says Vero. “I think it’s just something you take for granted it should be done.”

“I think the bottom line here is and the driving point is that everyone should be respecting all the laws all the time, not just when it’s convenient,” says Skoufis.

Larrabee says village officials have acted in an open and transparent manner and encouraged public input with regard to the annexation proposal. Meanwhile, Freeman says that if Skoufis’s legislation were to become law:

“It would represent a sea change in New York. It would give, let’s call it, unusual authority over virtually every unit of government to this new commission,” says Freeman. “In my heart of hearts, I would love to have that kind of authority, but I’m not sure that the state legislature or a governor would want to provide that kind of authority to an independent commission.”

After all, he says, there are the courts. Village of Woodbury Mayor Michael Queenan, who stood alongside Skoufis, likes the idea of a commission having enforcement power.

Credit WAMC, Allison Dunne

“All we’re asking for is that everybody has to play by the same rules. And I think it’s important that we have some enforcement measures in the laws so that they will be forced to play by the same rules as us,” says Queenan. “My philosophy is very simple, if you’re going to have laws, enforce the laws. If you’re not going to have laws, remove the laws so everybody is playing on a level playing field.”


Skoufis says there are discussions with a Republican to carry the bill in the Senate, but declined to name the senator.