All Things Political: Pols blocking county ethics reform

Adam Haber

I was a member of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority for a little under a year, stepping down in the spring of 2016 to run for state Senate.

I was tired of seeing corruption first hand and wanted to go to Albany in part to try and enact ethics reform (unfortunately I lost a close race).

Ethics reform was a hot topic last election cycle but somehow it wasn’t included as part of this year’s state budget.

As a NIFA director I came up with several Nassau County ethics reforms right after the $12 million Abtech scandal involving former state Senate Majority leader Dean Skelos.

Here is a list of my common sense reforms NIFA submitted to Nassau County Executive Mangano for review, that when approved by NIFA were to be stapled to the front of every county contract submitted for legislative approval:

· List of political donations to county officials, county committees and local political clubs by a vendor

· List of lobbyists and fees paid for service

· Disclosure of any relationship between vendors and any elected officials or County employees

· List of all bidders/respondents to the request for proposal from low to high

· If another vendor was chosen that did not provide the lowest bid, an explanation of the reason

· A vendor “Business History Form” that must include the date of formation of the vendor

There was tremendous pushback from the county executive’s office and most of these reforms were never approved.

I couldn’t understand why since there had been a rash of corruption and residents at the time were clamoring for ethics reform.

However, the recent arrest of Town of Hempstead Councilman Edward Ambrosino sheds some light.

It turns out currently indicted and still serving Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, was using currently indicted and still serving Town of Hempstead Councilman Edward Ambrosino, as his special counsel.

It is no wonder two elected officials gaming the system refused to enact the very reforms that would stop them from committing crimes.

I’d like to add another ethics reform to my list if Nassau legislators decide to enact new ethics legislation: If you are an elected official in Nassau County, you should not be allowed to work for another government agency as an attorney. When you include former indicted and convicted state Assembly leader Sheldon Silver in the mix, it’s clear that a good portion of the corruption comes from attorneys who are elected officials, who also practice in government.

As for the latest in the conga line of indicted Long Island politicians, Councilman Ambrosino seems to be the most brazen.

Ambrosino is charged with scamming his law firm Ruskin Moscou Faltischek out of $800,000 of $1,300,000 in legal fees while being special counsel to the Nassau County IDA and the Nassau County Local Economic Assistance Corp. then not paying $250,000 federal taxes on income on it.

Why the timesheets to confirm $1.3 million in legal fees from 2013-2015 weren’t reviewed by the county for accuracy before paying them is beyond me.

Where were the checks and balances?

There is no way he could have billed that many hours.

At Ambrosino’s legal fee of the lesser of roughly $300 per hour or one tenth of 1 percent of transaction costs, $1.3 million billed over three years represents full time work.

Unless Ambrosino went without sleep, he couldn’t have effectively attended Town of Hempstead board meetings, helped his constituents, gone to countless political functions, worked “of counsel” for Rivkin Radler, been special counsel for the Nassau County Executive, and billed full time hours as general counsel for the Nassau County IDA and the Nassau County Local Economic Assistance Corp.

What is most upsetting, is the way all of the aforementioned indicted officials show up at events professing to fight for children, veterans and the disabled, while in actuality they are allegedly stealing from them by hiding income or benefitting from overpayment of contracts with taxpayer money.

These allegedly stolen funds are taken from all taxpayers including the people who need them most.

How many times must the taxpayer be defrauded before stronger ethics reforms are enacted?

 

 

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