ALBANY, N.Y. -- Attorney General candidate Zephyr Teachout said Monday during a visit to the Capitol that the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, or J-COPE in political parlance, dropped the ball on ethics and corruption cases.

Decrying government corruption, Teachout targeted the commission's "backroom deals," and failure to adequately tackle sexual misconduct cases, claiming J-COPE's ties to Gov. Andrew Cuomo provide direct obstruction to independent investigation.

"New Yorkers deserve a fair, open, honest government, one that is fighting for the public good," said Teachout, "but we have been enfeebled by corruption, some illegal some legal, of backroom deals and sexual misconduct, much of which has been swept under the rug."

Should she become New York's next attorney general, Teachout promised to pursue corruption cases in a bipartisan matter.