New York State Commission on Government Integrity Informant Correspondence Files

Numerical by file number.

The commission compiled the information in these files to further its investigation into violations of ethical or legal standards of conduct by public officials and employees. Informants wrote to the commission making allegations against individuals and organizations such as: state and local government officials and employees; police officials; district attorneys; local political organizations; and state legislative staff.

Allegations included: involvement in criminal activity; conflict of interest; official misconduct; obstruction of justice; drug abuse; no-show employment; nepotism; election fraud; and patronage. Evidence supplied by informants ranged from well-documented allegations to totally unsupported innuendo.

The bulk of the series consists of files for each informant documenting the allegations made. Informant files typically contain: 1) Informant Information Input Forms providing: subject (name of person or organization against whom complaint was made); subject's agency or company; subject's address; name of complainant; affiliation of complainant to subject; complainant's address and telephone number; form of communication (in person, telephone, or written); topic(s) (campaign financing, procurement, judicial selection, conflict of interest, patronage appointments, or other); by whom complaint received; time and date complaint received; and summary of complaint (one- or two-sentence narrative); 2) informant's letter(s) to the commission alleging misconduct; 3) internal memoranda providing background or history of alleged misconduct; 4) memoranda summarizing telephone interviews or conversations with informants; 5) copies of legal briefs, motions, and other court documents relating to the allegations or to the individuals involved; 6) news clippings relating to the allegations or to related incidents and individuals; 7) "Corruption Hotline" telephone interview forms; and 8) other documents sent to the commission by informants to support their allegations.

The series contains two indices to these informant files. One index lists the files by file number, the other by the name of the individual against whom the allegations were made. Both provide the following for each file: file number; state or local government agency or name of other employer or position; brief statement of allegations made; and source - name of individual making allegations.

In addition, the series contains a few files of correspondence and memoranda of each investigator, mostly containing memoranda of telephone interviews with informants. There are also a few administrative files containing records such as investigation unit weekly reports and microfilm processing orders.

Container list is available at the repository. Two "Indices of Files" are found at the beginning of the series: one by file number, and one by name of subject of investigation.

Restricted in accordance with Civil Rights Law, Section 73.8, and other statutes. Public hearing transcripts, press releases, published material, and other records that have been previously available to the public are available without restriction. Access to other information is permitted only by permission of the commission or the Governor's office.