Watertown Times staff writer
CAPE VINCENT - Towns in New York could be in for an ethical revamping.
About time, those on both sides of Cape Vincent's wind fight say.
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman is requesting the state's 932 towns to send his office their codes of ethics, a major point of contention in towns like Cape Vincent, where wind-power development is debated. The attorney general's office, which has received numerous complaints over the years about supposed ethically questionable conduct among members of both sides of Cape Vincent's wind-power debate, is pressing towns to become more self reliant on ethical questions that are under, or should be under, the purview of local board of ethics and strong ethics codes. Continue reading via this link to the Watertown Times
There are a couple of issues in the Watertown Time’s article, concerning Cape Vincent and ethics, which need clarification.
Excerpts: From WDT story
In Cape Vincent, those who don’t want wind-power development in town have accused certain Town Council members of being conflicted pawns of the alternative energy industry with whom they hold leases.
Those who support wind power, on the other hand, complained when the anti-wind-power town supervisor, Urban C. Hirschey, leaked confidential documents to an anti-wind-power group.While both matters were referred to the attorney general’s office — during the tenure of Andrew M. Cuomo, who is now governor — neither seemed to have a state-mandated resolution in the offing.
That’s because such matters are resolved more easily at the local level — as long as the town has a well-defined and enforceable ethics code.
Clarification:
No, there does not seem to be a state mandated resolution in the offing.
However, the complaints about conflicted officials had enough merit for the AG to launch an investigation into the matter, August 13, 2010.
Additionally, there has been no formal announcement of a conclusion to their investigation.
I have posted a letter from the AG at the end of this post, announcing this investigation and requesting documents and records for their investigation.
On the other hand, the Accusations, made by Acciona and their lease holders, (including Board members, Mason & Mason, January 13, 2011 ~ (after Cuomo was elected Governor) , against Supervisor Urban Hirschey ,were put to rest by the AG’s office, under the reign of Eric Schneiderman .
Below is a letter from Town Attorney Mark Gebo to Supervisor Urban Hirschey concerning this matter .
Link here to read the FOIL request for the Documents in question
Link here to
Watertown Times article ~ State won't pursue official
Below is the letter RE: AG investigation into Supervisor Hirschey's Misconduct
Below is the letter from Attorney Generals office announcing their investigation
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