JCOPE's new regs constrained by settlement

ALBANY — A legal settlement reached Wednesday will significantly dampen the impact of sweeping new regulations governing New York's lobbying industry, according to David Grandeau, an attorney who was among the parties that recently sued to strike down the rules.The Times Union has learned that under the terms of the settlement, the 92 pages of regulations passed in April by the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics are defined simply as a "statement" for how the ethics watchdog agency pl