Maragos threatens to sue Weitzman

Dan Glaun

The race for Nassau County comptroller is heating up, with incumbent Comptroller George Maragos (R-Great Neck) accusing challenger Howard Weitzman (D-North Hills) of libel following Weitzman’s allegations that Maragos manipulated the county’s financial reporting.

Maragos’ attorneys wrote a letter to Weitzman threatening legal action should Weitzman not withdraw a complaint he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that accused Maragos of falsely claiming that the county ran a surplus in 2012. 

Weitzman fired back at a press conference last week, refusing to withdraw his allegations and doubling down on claims that Maragos cooked the books.

“It is ironic that you should accuse the comptroller of “cooking the books” for his benefit during an election year,’ when the plain purpose of your allegations is political,” wrote Maragos’ attorney Andrew Grumet in the letter. “Your attempt to characterize proper financial reporting as an ‘attempt to mislead the public’ can only be described as a sensational, base appeal to voters. It is also libel and slander.”

Weitzman, who served as the county’s comptroller before being narrowly defeated by Maragos in 2009, defended his allegations and decried the letter as an attempt at intimidation.

“That complaint I filed as a citizen and I have an absolute right to do so,” Weitzman said. “For them to try to intimidate me with taxpayer money is a new low for Nassau County and Nassau County officials.”

The dispute centers  on a December 2012 court order, granted at the request of a county attorney, that shifted $88 million of unfunded property tax refunds to the 2013 budget. 

Weitzman alleged in his complaint that the deferment, first reported on by the Wall Street Journal, allowed Maragos to change a projected deficit into a $41 million on-paper surplus, while not helping the county’s underlying finances. 

Grumet wrote that the transfer had been properly disclosed in the county’s 2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, and that the surplus had been vetted by independent auditors.

That argument did not sway Maragos, who cited scandal-ridden companies like Enron and WorldCom who had also had their financials pass outside audits.

“Every CPA knows that you can’t rely on the defense that a CPA certified the statements,” Weitzman said. “The financial accounting and reporting of Nassau County is the responsibility of the Comptroller, Mr. Maragos, not the responsibility of the outside accounting firm.”

Maragos has said the court petition was one of the options available to the county to deal with the liability, which he said could not have been paid out that year due to Democratic obstruction in the Nassau County Legislature.

The reported surplus, Maragos said, was based on the financial facts on the ground.

“The responsibility of this office is not to pass judgment but to reflect the financial events as they transpire,” he said after Weitzman’s initial allegations.

Weitzman took issue with Maragos’ description of his duties, saying that it is the comptroller’s job not just to calculate results but to present them accurately and fairly.

Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x203 or on Twitter @dglaun. Also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.

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