Let’s call the demand made by Democrats in the Nassau County Legislature for a referendum on creating an inspector general to oversee county contracts what it is: a politically motivated gimmick with virtually no chance of succeeding.
Which is not to say that it is a bad idea in a county whose finances have been under state supervision since 2000.
In fact, it is a very good idea given the county Legislature’s abject failure to exert proper oversight of county contracts.
How bad a job? A brief recap is in order.
In 2013, a $200,000 no-bid contract was awarded to a firm operated by former Republican state Sen. Michael Balboni without legislative approval because the Legislature failed to conduct a review within 45 days as required by law.
The Legislature also stood by as hundred of contracts were approved by Mangano that fell just under the $25,000 threshold for its review before eventually lowering the limit to $1,000.
Then state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) was indicted on federal corruption charges that included influencing the awarding of a Nassau County contract to a firm that hired his son, Adam. Both were later convicted.
Following the indictments, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas launched an investigation into the award of county contracts that discovered “troubling problems,” including no requirements for vendors to disclose subsidiary companies, criminal convictions, political contributions or whether a vendor is barred from government contracts in other places.
Mangano responded by hiring a compliance chief to improve accountability — a move that Singas called “woefully inadequate” since the office lacks independence.
Mangano’s record in hiring hardly inspires great confidence either.
Nassau Chief Deputy County Executive Rob Walker sought donations from county vendors two months before he testified during the Skelos trial that he is under investigation for allegedly awarding county contracts to campaign contributors.
Walker signed a $12 million storm cleanup contract with one vendor — VIP Splash Waterways recovery group — on the same day in August 2014 the firm gave money to the Hicksville Republican Club, for which Walker is the executive director.
But Mangano and county Republicans have repeatedly resisted the recommendation of Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas and the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the state board with control over county finances, as well as county Democrats, for an inspector general appointed by an independent panel to investigate potential corruption and misconduct in the awarding of contracts.
For voters, the usual answer to this is to “throw the bums out” and elect a Democratic majority in the Legislature.
Democrats actually have a 40,000 person edge in party registration in Nassau County.
But thanks to the gerrymandering of legislative districts by Republicans in 2010, the GOP now enjoys a 12-7 edge in the Legislature and Democrats, short of an earthquake, have no chance to win back the majority until some time in the next century.
The Democrats in the Legislature have responded by obtaining more than 4,000 signatures from voters requesting a referendum this November.
This requires the Legislature’s Rules Committee — where Republicans hold a 4-3 edge — to consider the proposal.
If approved by the rules committee, the referendum would then need to be approved by the full Legislature.
As we said: a good idea with no shot of passing.
