NU Online News Service, May 14, 12:32 p.m. EDT
Michael G. Cherkasky, former Marsh & McLennan Companies chief executive, was appointed yesterday to take over as chairman of the scandal-scarred New York State Commission on Public Integrity.
The new chairman currently is CEO of U.S. Investigations Services Inc. At MMC, the parent firm for Marsh insurance brokerage, he was both CEO and president.
New York Gov. David A. Paterson, in addition to naming Mr. Cherkasky to a post vacant since January, called for the resignation of all 12 commission members, its general counsel and executive director Herbert Teitelbaum.
Gov. Paterson's action followed release of a scathing inspector general's report which found Mr. Teitelbaum illegally leaked confidential information about a commission probe into activities of then Gov. Eliot Spitzer's administration.
In naming Mr. Cherkasky to head the commission, Gov. Paterson said, "I am confident that my appointment of Chairman Cherkasky combined with new commission members will give the commission the fresh start it needs and will help to restore public confidence in both the commission and state government."
Mr. Cherkasky–a one-time boss of Mr. Spitzer when the two held positions in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office–took over at MMC when a bid-rigging investigation of MMC by the New York Attorney General's Office, then headed by Mr. Spitzer, forced the resignation of MMC CEO Jeffrey Greenberg. He left MMC after a slump in earnings at the firm.
Gov. Paterson said, "Under Chairman Cherkasky's leadership, the commission will be transformed into an effective enforcer of our ethics and lobbying laws."
"It is with great honor and gratitude that I accept the nomination," said Mr. Cherkasky in a separate statement. "This commission epitomizes the fact that what we need in government employees…is not just that they obey criminal law. We need more than that. We demand that our public servants be of the highest caliber of ethics, integrity and transparency, and that is what this commission is all about."
Mr. Cherkasky left MMC at the beginning of 2008 after Brian Duperreault replaced him. He was named CEO of USIS in July of that same year.
Mr. Cherkasky joined Kroll Inc. in 1994 after serving in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Following Kroll's acquisition by MMC, he was named president and CEO in 2004.
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