The latest story in what has now become a long saga of accounts about Nassau County’s incompetent if not corrupt contracting system involves restaurateur Haarendra Singh paying for trips for Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, his wife, Linda, and their sons to the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2013 and Turks and Caicos in 2013.
The cost of the trip Turks and Caicos by the Mangano and Singh’s families was $17,498, according to a report in Newsday.
A Singh company got a $238,200 no-bid contract to provide food for county employees after superstorm Sandy and Singh has also employed Mangano’s wife and son.
Mangano maintains that no favoritism was extended to Singh in awarding the contract and that he reimbursed Singh for his travels.
But as of press time he had yet to provide any documentation.
Mangano has also maintained that he had not done anything wrong when federal prosecutors in April accused then-state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos of illegally pressuring the county to award a contract to a company that employed his son.
Mangano approved the contract, found funding for the project and expedited payments, according to the indictment, but was not accused of any improprieties.
In the wake of the indictment of Skelos and his son Adam, Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas launched an investigation of county contract practices that found the county did not require vendors to disclose subsidiary companies, criminal convictions, political contributions or whether a vendor is barred from government contracts in other places.
According to a Singas, her office’s still-to-be-completed review already found an unspecified contractor with ties to organized crime, a contractor barred from doing government business in another jurisdiction and a convicted felon with a bankruptcy.
One third of the county’s contracts were also found to not be let to the lowest bidder and there are computerized master list of agreements
Mangano also approved two security consulting contracts with famed ex-NYPD Det. Bo Dietl, according to Newsday, which came in just under the $25,000 limit requiring legislative approval.
As if that would matter.
A $200,000 contract with former state senator and state deputy secretary for public safety Michael Balboni passed without a vote by the Republican-controlled county Legislature.
Why?
Because the legislators failed to take action in the 45 days they are given to review county contracts — one a number of instances in which the Legislature failed to do its job in overseeing county contracts.
We previously asked how has a county whose finances have required state supervision since 2000 — after receiving a state bailout to avoid bankruptcy — failed to review something as basic and important to the quality and cost of services as how it awards contacts.
Now we know.
With new revelations published daily, Mangano has reached out to former Nasdaq chairman Frank Zarb, who helped engineer Nassau County’s bailout, to help the county determine the best practices for contracting. Zarb then brought in Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz and former National Grid head Robert B. Cartell to help.
We hope they come up with a plan to clean the county stables, but wonder if that can done without getting of some of the people who supposedly have been in charge.
