Comment on Capital Region ethics boards defunct, or work in secret

Numerous ethics boards tasked with monitoring the conduct of elected officials and public employees have not met in years, do not document their meetings and provide little information on their websites about how to file an ethics complaint. A two-month examination of the practices of nearly two dozen Capital Region ethics boards revealed many of the panels meet only "as needed" and do not update their codes or proactively conduct investigations — throwing them into a state of dormancy that can last years.