The usual gaggle of self-styled good-government groups is calling on Gov. Paterson to appoint David Grandeau, former head of the state Lobbying Commission, as chairman of the Public Integrity Commission.
NYPIRG, Common Cause, Citizens Union and the League of Women Voters have written to Paterson asking that Grandeau be named successor to John Feerick – who abruptly quit this month just hours after The Post reported that two PIC members had retained criminal lawyers.
The disclosure came as a result of state Inspector General Joseph Fisch’s ongoing probe into allegations that PIC members, including Executive Director Herbert Teitelbaum, leaked confidential information from its probe of the Troopergate scandal to top aides of then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Certainly, Grandeau has been vocal on the question of Albany’s corrupt practices – so much so that the Public Integrity Commission was set up precisely to put the Lobbying Commission out of business.
And he was particularly vocal about the PIC’s reluctance to aggressively – and honestly – investigate the Troopergate scandal, which involved the alleged corrupt use of State Police for political spying.
That certainly set him apart from NYPIRG & Co.: The goo-goo groups were struck dumb by their fear of Spitzer, and didn’t have Word One to say during the whole sordid affair.
Indeed, save for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, one investigator after another sought either to sweep the mess under the rug – or to ignore it.
So where do they now claim standing to weigh in on who should be given the responsibility to police Albany’s ethics?
These are precisely the groups that should have been front-and-center during the tidal wave of revelations about how Spitzer and his top staff used the State Police to dig up dirt on then-Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and then tried to cover it all up.
Grandeau – who has hinted pretty broadly that he’d like the assignment – may or may not be the right person for the job. But he’s not starting out with the most credible set of advocates.
