In response to calls for an independent inspector general to review all county contracts, the Legislature’s presiding officer, Norma Gonsalves, (R-East Meadow) said the county’s contract process is already “the most transparent in the state.”
We don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Yes, the county Legislature did vote last week to lower the threshold for approval of contracts by the Legislature’s Rule Committee from $25,000 to $1,000 — after Newsday discovered that hundreds of contracts just under the $25,000 limit had been approved with no supervision from the Legislature.
And yes the Legislature did make some changes after then Acting District Attorney Madeline Singas launched an investigation that discovered “troubling problems” in the county contracting process, 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.
But that is not nearly enough.
Singas’ investigation followed the indictments of former state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) on federal corruption charges, including influencing the awarding of a Nassau County contract to a firm that hired his son, Adam. Both were later convicted of the charges and are appealing.
We recently agreed with Singas that Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s decision to hire a compliance chief to improve accountability was “woefully inadequate” since the office lacks independence.
Our opposition has only grown stronger with the county’s first choice for the $120,000 a year job, Joseph LaRussa. He backed out of the job after questions were raised about an as-of-yet undisclosed inconsistency on his resume.
Oversight is currently in the hands of Carnell Foskey, who now holds the title of county attorney and commissioner of investigations.
Republican legislators say this makes the need for an inspector general moot. We say you got to be kidding.
Singas called Foskey’s two roles “fundamentally incompatible.”
Perhaps the legislators are also forgetting that another Mangano appointee, Chief of Staff Rob Walker, is under federal investigation for a contract Walker finalized on the day the firm donated to Walker’s political club.
Singas, county Democrats and an independent panel Mangano appointed in the wake of Skelos’ indictment have all called for an independent auditor.
Democrats pledged two weeks ago to block $275 million in borrowing for capital projects until an inspector general’s office is created with the leader nominated by an independent panel and appointed by a supermajority of the Legislature.
We acknowledge that holding up approval on the capital project is a somewhat extreme tactic.
As Deputy Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said: “You’re using your power over borrowing to stop us from paving roads, fixing bridges, getting vests for police officers.”
On the other hand, perhaps that is not such a bad thing.
Both the Mangano administration and the Republican-led Legislature have lost credibility after failing repeatedly to exercise proper oversight over county contracts.
Perhaps not so surprisingly, many of those contracts just so happened to go to Republican contributors.
So why not establish an independent office?
The Republicans say this would only duplicate what the county is already doing.
At this point, we might ask, why is that a bad thing?
