Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano has appointed a three-man advisory board to analyze its contracting process, the second review of its practices following the announcement of charges against state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) for accepting bribes in exchange for influencing contracts.
The board includes Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz; Robert Catell, the former chief executive officer of Keyspan; and Frank Zarb, former chairman of NASDAQ and the Nassau Interim Finance Authority.
“I commend them for their civic involvement and look forward to their review,” Mangano said in a statement.
According to a news release from Mangano’s office announcing the appointment, the board will “focus on the fairness, integrity and enforcement of the policy’s implementation” and also break down the processes of neighboring municipalities.
Skelos and his son Adam were arrested in May following an investigation by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office that alleged the former state Senate majority leader used his political stature to acquire no-show jobs with salaries and benefits for his son.
The investigation alleged that Skelos helped steer a $12 million county stormwater treatment contract, though no wrongdoing was found on part of Nassau County.
In early July, acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas issued a 36-page review of the county’s contracting process, calling it “a recipe for corruption.”
Her office found the county does not require prospective vendors to submit various pieces of information, such as subsidiary companies, criminal convictions, tax law compliance, political contributions or whether a vendor may not have county contracts in other municipalities.
It also found Nassau has no process to verify self-disclosed information from vendors and has no central database for contracts or vendors.
“When it comes to government contracts, the honor system just doesn’t cut it,” Singas said at the time.
