Daniel L. Feldman

Daniel L. Feldman

Professor
Phone number: 
212.237.8096
Room number and address: 
533.23 Haaren Hall

Education

1973 JD        Harvard Law School
1970 AB       Columbia College (Economics)

2021 M.Phil.     CUNY Graduate Center

Bio

Dan Feldman teaches Oversight & Investigation, Ethics & Accountability, and Administrative Law. In 2019 the MPA faculty elected him as Program Director for its Inspection & Oversight track through June 2021. He was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 1980, and served as a member of the Legislature from 1981 through 1998, writing over 140 state laws, including New York’s Megan’s Law and Organized Crime Control Act. As Correction Committee chair for twelve years, he led some of the first efforts to repeal the Rockefeller drug laws. For six years thereafter, as a senior member of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s staff, he exposed HUD’s 203k mortgage loan guarantee scandal and led the investigation of UnumProvident’s disability insurance scam. Until his full-time appointment at John Jay, he worked as Special Counsel for Law & Policy to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Feldman's fourth book, Tales from the Sausage Factory: Making Laws in New York State, with co-author Gerald Benjamin, was published by SUNY Press in 2010, and his fifth book, The Art of the Watchdog: Fighting Fraud, Waste, Abuse and Corruption in Government, with co-author David Eichenthal, also by SUNY Press, in 2013. His most recent book, Administrative Law: The Sources and Limits of Government Agency Power, was published by Sage/CQ Press in 2016. He also wrote numerous scholarly articles, and served as Perspective and Commentary Editor for Public Administration Review from 2013 through 2017. His current research involves government oversight, administrative theory, and legal philosophy.

JJC Affiliations

MPA Program, Department of Public Management

Professional Memberships

Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration

Member of the Bar Association of the City of New York

Course Taught

PAD 731, PAD 739, PAD 740, PAD 741, PAD 758

Languages spoken/fluent in

English, some French

Scholarly Work

Books

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW: THE SOURCES AND LIMITS OF GOVERNMENT AGENCY POWER, Sage/CQ Press, Thousand Oaks, California 2016.

THE ART OF THE WATCHDOG: FIGHTING FRAUD, WASTE, ABUSE AND CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT, SUNY Press, with co-author David Eichenthal, Albany, N.Y., 2014.

TALES FROM THE SAUSAGE FACTORY: MAKING LAWS IN NEW YORK STATE, SUNY Press, with co-author Gerald Benjamin, Albany, N.Y., 2010

Chapter

 

The New York State Office of the Attorney General, in New York State Government Handbook, Gerald Benjamin, ed., Oxford University Press, New York, 2012

Article

 

The Inspector General: Political Culture and Constraints on Effective Oversight, 19(6) Public Integrity 593-606, Nov./Dec. 2017, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2017.1309187; http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1123-2216

Honors and Awards

Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, 2016; Williston Prize, Harvard Law School, 1971; New York City Urban Fellowship, 1969-1970

Research Summary

Dan Feldman exposed and corrected fraud, waste, corruption, and mismanagement at the City, State, and Federal levels in appointed and elected office over several decades, often while writing about and teaching the "watchdog" techniques and principles he was using. In recent years, he extended his study to overseas cases, publishing articles and a book chapter discussing anti-corruption work in Italy and in Armenia.

At present, however, his research focuses on a very different topic, an argument for the primacy of Lon Fuller's analytical jurisprudence, as opposed to the legal philosophies of H.L.A. Hart or Ronald Dworkin.
 

Area of Expertise

Most requested topics by media

Civil Rights & Liberties
Congress / Legislative Process
Constitutional Law
Corrections
Courts, Procedural Justice & Sentencing
Criminal Justice / Crime Prevention & Reduction
Incarceration
New York History

Faculty Expertise: topics/keywords

constitutional law

philosophy of law

administrative law

statutory interpretation

In The Media

Podcast/Radio

Good Law/ Bad Law (January 4, 2019)

      Podcast #114: Why can’t gun makers be sued? Host Aaron J. Freiwald interviewed me, https://www.goodlawbadlawpodcast.com/

WNYC Radio (July 2, 2020)

      WNYC’s news feed played a recording of a statement of mine arguing for the efficacy of Governor Cuomo’s quarantine order for travelers to New York from some other states taken from my earlier interview with the station’s Fred Mogul. http://archive.tveyes.com/18120/3632397-40853/6a78a7de-344d-4df6-bb41-0dcf2b93e01e/RADWNYC_07-02-2020_06.05.10.mp3

TV/YouTube

PIX11.com (March 2, 2021)

      James Ford used a clip of my comment for his story “Protesters and elected officials alike call for Cuomo to resign as investigation begins,” https://pix11.com/news/cuomo-under-fire/protesters-and-elected-officials-alike-call-for-cuomo-to-resign-as-investigation-begins/ 

WPIX-TV (October 28, 2020)

      James Ford used a clip of my comment in his story “As Coney Barrett joins court, voters say they’re out in droves to give an indisputable outcome,” https://www.pix11.com/news/election-2020/as-coney-barrett-joins-court-voters-say-theyre-out-in-droves-to-give-an-indisputable-outcome

Fox 5 NY (July 26, 2020)

      Arthur Chi’en interviewed me for his story, “Michael Cohen to be Released Again to Home Confinement,” http://archive.tveyes.com/18120/3632397-40853/e55de387-6930-45c5-b779-06a02c51f1f3/WNYW_07-23-2020_22.13.52.mp4

NBC News.com (April 7, 2020)

      Corky Siemaszko quoted me in his story, “Florida’s coronavirus stay-at-home order doesn’t bar churches from holding services,” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/church-vs-state-desantis-stay-home-executive-order-doesn-t-n1177876

Print/Online

New York Focus (December 10, 2020) and The City (December 9, 2020)

      Sam Mellins quoted me in this story, respectively “How New York Judges Spend Their Way Toward Seats on the Bench,” https://www.nysfocus.com/2020/12/10/pay-to-play-judges/, and “Many New York Judges Spend Their Way Toward Seats on the Bench. And It’s Perfectly Legal,” https://www.thecity.nyc/justice/2020/12/9/22166899/ny-judges-spend-their-way-toward-bench

Gothamist.com (July 5, 2020)

 

      Fred Mogul quoted me in his story, “Cuomo Mum On How Quarantines For Hotspot Visitors Get Enforced,” https://gothamist.com/news/cuomo-mum-how-quarantines-hotspot-visitors-get-enforced

NYDailyNews.com (May 19, 2020)

 

 

      Daniel Feldman and Robin Kempf, “Why inspectors general matter so much, and what makes Trump’s attack on them such a threat,” https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-why-inspectors-general-matter-so-much-20200519-stwjskitnvbzpm7dbwjt5lxhzq-story.html

Times Herald-Record, RecordOnline.com (Feb. 28, 2020)

 

 

      Jessica Cohen quoted me in her story, “Building inspector case may continue to cost city,” https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/local/port-jervis/2020/02/28/building-inspector--case-may-continue-to-cost-city/111801628/

 

Internal John Jay College post (February 21, 2020)

      Photo and text of my delivering the keynote address for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the New York City Urban Fellows program, https://twitter.com/JohnJayCollege/status/1230986392324452353

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