The New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government elected its first full-term Chair and Vice Chair at its March meeting, selecting Frederick A. Davie to serve as Chair and Leonard B. Austin as Vice Chair, Executive Director Sanford N. Berland announced Monday. Chair Davie will lead the 11-member Commission in its work to oversee, regulate, and ensure compliance with New York State’s ethics and lobbying laws.
Chair Davie has served as Interim Chair of the Commission since September 2022. He was nominated by Governor Kathy Hochul for the Commission and confirmed by an Independent Review Committee comprised of the deans of the accredited law schools in NY State. Presently, Chair Davie is the Senior Strategic Advisor to the President at Union Theological Seminary, where he served as Executive Vice President for a decade. As Senior Strategic Advisor, he provides counsel on public programming, racial justice, racial equity, social justice, and community engagement. Mr. Davie is also a Senior Advisor for Racial Equity at Interfaith Youth Core and a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), appointed by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer in June 2020.
From September 2016 until January 2022, Mr. Davie served as a member of the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio. He was the Chair of the CCRB from December 2017 until January 2022. The CCRB is an agency established by the City of New York with civilian oversight of the New York City Police Department, the nation’s largest municipal law enforcement agency. With a staff of 200 and a board of 15 members, CCRB is the nation’s largest independent civilian oversight agency of a police department.
In January 2021, Mr. Davie participated in the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service at the invitation of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President Kamala Harris and collaborated with the White House on several issues related to faith and public policy. Mr. Davie also served on President Barack Obama’s transition team, performing agency reviews for faith-based and community initiatives, and accepted an appointment by President Obama to the White House Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
In March 2021, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Mr. Davie to the Racial Justice/Charter Reform Commission of the City of New York, a commission tasked with reviewing the City’s Charter and delivering proposals for charter revisions, as well as policy and programmatic revisions on the state and federal level.
Mr. Davie holds a B.A. in Political Science from Greensboro College ’78, where he earned Dean’s List recognition and the Harold H. Hutson Award. He also holds an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School ’82, where he was a Benjamin E. Mays Fellow of The Fund for Theological Education and President of Yale Black Seminarians. He is also a recipient of Yale Divinity School’s Distinguished Alumnus Award for Community Service. Mr. Davie was a Charles H. Revson Fellow at Columbia University, from 1989 – 90.
Prior to being elected Vice Chair, Commissioner Austin held the position of Interim Vice Chair of the Commission since September 2022. Vice Chair Austin was first elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York in 1998 and re-elected in 2012. Before his elevation to the Appellate Division, Second Department as an Associate Justice in March 2009, Vice Chair Austin was assigned to a dedicated Matrimonial Part in Suffolk County and thereafter he served in the Commercial Division in Nassau County. Prior to his election to the bench in 1998, Vice Chair Austin privately practiced law. In 1980 and 1981, he was the Associate Counsel to Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink.
During his tenure in the Commercial Division, Justice Austin drafted the original Statewide Rules of the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court. In addition, since 2004, he has served on the Pattern Jury Instruction Committee which is responsible for drafting jury charges and regularly updated commentaries on the law.
He is the author of several articles dealing with Equitable Distribution and New York City’s Forfeiture Law, as well as an article in the Banking Law Journal entitled, “The Impact of New York’s Commercial Division on Banking Litigation.” Justice Austin has served as the President of the American College of Business Court Judges, the Theodore Roosevelt Inn of Court, and Presiding Justice of the Judicial Section of the New York State Bar Association.
Retiring from the Bench in early 2022, Vice Chair Austin is now an arbitrator/mediator with National Arbitration and Mediation (NAM) and is of counsel to the Law Offices of Steven Cohn, PC. Since 2002, Vice Chair Austin has been an adjunct law professor at Hofstra Law School. In September 2022, Vice Chair Austin was confirmed as a member of the Commission. Vice Chair Austin is a graduate of Georgetown University in 1974 and Hofstra University School of Law in 1977.
Executive Director Sanford N. Berland said, “The Commission has avidly embraced its work to oversee ethics and lobbying in New York State. Under the leadership of Chair Davie and Vice Chair Austin, who thus far have been serving in those roles on an interim basis, the Commission and staff have been hard at work improving the efficiency, efficacy, and effectiveness of our policies and procedures, and the transparency of our operations. I look forward to carving a new path in ethics and lobbying in government with these esteemed and accomplished individuals.”
Chair Frederick A. Davie said, “I am honored my fellow Commissioners selected me for this role. With the creation of the Commission, a new day has dawned in how we approach ethics and lobbying regulation in New York State. Belief in good government has long been an integral part of my life; and every New Yorker should have confidence in their government. The Commission is steadfast in its commitment to restoring the public’s trust in state government by leading with integrity and transparency.”
Vice Chair Leonard B. Austin said, “Fairness and impartiality are paramount to an effective government and these principles will guide the Commission as it fulfills its charge to uphold the state’s ethics and lobbying laws. I am eager to serve in my new capacity alongside Chair Davie.”
