NY ethics board member wants fed probe of panel - NEWS10 ABC: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports

NY ethics board member wants fed probe of panel

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A member of New York's ethics board says he wants a federal probe into what he calls corruption on the board.
    
Ravi Batra has been a critic of the secrecy and control of the potentially powerful Joint Commission on Public Ethics that was created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
    
Batra says the secrecy the panel requires of its commissioners may have become a cover for unspecified illegality. In a letter to reporters Friday, he criticized the commission for press leaks and says it's driven by politics.
    
Batra, who says he isn't resigning, was appointed by Senate Democratic leader John Sampson.
    
He wants Cuomo, who once employed most of the commission's top officers, to empanel an investigation.
    
The commission had no immediate comment.

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