[ by Howard Haykin and Melanie Gretchen ]

Whoever said, "Bernie Madoff and 'Ethics' would never cross paths" may soon be eating his or her own words.  How sure are we?  Very.

On Monday, 4/22, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announces that he has appointed a New York City lawyer to serve as Chairman of the New York Ethics Panel - formally known as the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE).  The attorney accepts the appointment.  Yet, the most notable aspect of this moment is this lawyer's unique distinction - one that separates him from most.  He once defended Bernie Madoff.

Daniel Horwitz was a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office in 2008 when Bernie Madoff walked into a NYC Police station and turned himself in - that was in December 2008.  Horwitz was assigned the task of defending Bernie Madoff, the "Ponzi King."  Mr. Horwitz accompanied his client in March 2009 when Bernie Madoff pled guilty to having run a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.  Several months later, Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison. 

After unsuccessfully preserving his client's innocence or winning his freedom, Mr. Horowitz left public service and accepted a partnership interest with Lankler Carragher & Horwitz, a boutique law firm in Manhattan. 

We return to present day - Monday, 4/22 - as Daniel Horwitz is appointed to the Chair of JCOPE.  It turns out, Mr. Horowitz is not new to the 14-member commission.  He has been a member of the ethics commission since its inception in 2011. 

At JCOPE Mr. Horwitz will succeed Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, who stepped down in order to run for re-election this year.  The commission, created as part of a sweeping ethics-reform package signed into law by Governor Cuomo, regulates government ethics and lobbying for state legislators, legislative and executive branch employees, and political candidates, as well as lobbyists and certain party officials.  Its 14 members comprise of 6 appointed by the governor and the rest by legislative leaders.  From the 14, the governor selects the chairman.

For further details, go to [Reuters, 4/22/13].