The New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics – or JCOPE – is dropping its case against an activist it maintains violated state lobbying laws.
JCOPE says Kat Sullivan’s use of more than $5,000 to purchase digital billboard space and fly a banner over the state capitol in Albany in support of the Child Victims Act in 2018 violates the state Lobbying Act and should have been reported.
Sullivan, who said she was only acting on her own behalf after obtaining the money in a sexual abuse settlement with private Troy girls’ high school Emma Willard in 2016, claimed JCOPE was violating her First Amendment rights.
JCOPE announced in a letter to Sullivan Wednesday it will not take further action and included ethics guidelines and state lobbying requirements.
In an interview with WAMC Wednesday afternoon, Sullivan said she is reviewing her options to sue JCOPE in federal court.
“JCOPE is not going to do this to me. And they’re not going to do it to anyone else, either. Because they’re dangerous. They’ve proven themselves to be dangerous. Therefore, I’m going to ask that they be dissolved as an agency, and I’m going to ask a court of law for restitution for what has been done to me. And each individual at JCOPE that partook in this will be named in the lawsuit,” said Sullivan.
