Times Union | Rick Karlin | May 14, 2020 SCHAGHTICOKE – Efforts to reopen Rensselaer County’s RV campgrounds has drawn the attention of a public interest law firm which is urging both the state and county to coordinate their policies and cut through the bureaucracy. “This is the type of thing that defies common sense,” said […]
Times Union | April 25, 2020 | Becca Carballo
An Albany-based nonprofit that provides legal services to those challenging government called out the town of Colonie in a news release Thursday for allegedly breaking public meetings law.
March 15, 2020 Well, here’s one money saver for state lawmakers: They don’t need to come up with the cash for public financing of political campaigns anytime soon, since a judge last week quite rightly struck the program down. In an 11-page ruling, Niagara County Supreme Court Justice Ralph Boniello held that the ridiculous method Gov. […]
NNY 360 | January 15, 2020 | Randy Pellis
Almost a year-and-a-half after first requesting electronic documents from the town under New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), Oswego County Supreme Court Judge Norman W. Seiter granted Soderlund’s Article 78 petition Dec. 13 compelling Boylston to provide electronic versions of the town’s 2017 checkbook register and highway and general accounts spending reports.
Times Union | December 4, 2019 | Chris Bragg
ALBANY — New York’s ethics watchdog agency has dropped its investigation into whether an alleged rape victim violated lobbying laws as she pushed for passage of the Child Victims Act.
Spectrum News | December 4, 2019 | Nick Reisman
The state’s top ethics regulator on Wednesday dropped its unregistered lobbying investigation against a rape survivor who had advocated for the Child Victims Act.
NY Law Journal | December 3, 2019 | Dan Clark
“This is essentially a piece of legislation that was never on the legislator’s desks,” Macdonald said. That litigation is focused on whether the commission itself was lawfully created by the Legislature earlier this year when it delegated its lawmaking powers to the panel, and whether fusion voting—candidates running on more than on party line—is constitutional.
NNY360 | November 21, 2019 | Debra Groom
In January 2019, Soderlund paid Boylston the $13.50 and her lawyer provided the town with step-by-step instructions on how to generate the check register report from the QuickBooks software. On Feb. 2, 2019, the town again denied Soderlund’s Freedom of Information Law request.
Associated Press | November 16, 2019 | Marina Villeneuve
Critics argue the nine-member Public Campaign Financing Commission is the latest example of lawmakers and the governor failing to pass laws themselves and unconstitutionally shoving off responsibility to a state commission that lacks expertise, staffing and a budget for legal battles.
Spectrum News | October 24, 2019 | Nick Reisman
It can be hard to make a difference in Albany, but what happens when the state pursues a rape victim to register as a lobbyist? Advocates say it’s a violation of her First Amendment rights.