For those concerned that Nassau County will head in a new direction once County Executive Ed Mangano leaves office in January take heart.
The Mangano administration has moved more than 40 politically appointed employees into union positions that will protect them from being fired when a new county executive takes office in January.
Included are 12 deputy county attorneys taking assistant county titles with their resumes replacing normal hiring tests as well as 26 community service representatives whose jobs have been traditionally held by patronage employees.
In addition, Newsday reported, a half-dozen other exempt employees — those who can be hired and fired at will — have taken vacant civil service positions. This group includes Doreen Pennica, who has worked for more than 20 years for Mangano, first as his assistant when he was a county legislator from 1996 though 2009, and then as office gatekeeper after he became county executive in 2010.
For all those who welcome change this fall, Mangano has once again reminded us — both Democrats and Republicans — why Nassau County government is in such a mess.
Mangano is not expected to be re-elected county executive in November to enjoy the agreement he negotiated with CSEA president Jerry Laricchiuta behind closed doors. County Republicans have thrown their support behind former state Sen. Jack Martins — although Mangano, who failed to file petitions to challenge Martins in a primary, could still run as an independent.
The GOP’s mutiny followed Mangano’s indictment on charges of receiving bribes and kickbacks from indicted restaurateur Harendra Singh in return for county work. With Mangano — along with his wife, Linda, and former Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto — scheduled for trial in January, Republicans apparently decided that enough’s enough — or at least would be for county voters.
Chief Deputy County Executive Rob Walker defended the reclassification of county employees, saying the changes were intended to provide for “continuity of government” rather than protect existing employees or to hamstring the incoming county executive.
Walker, it should be noted, said he was under investigation for political corruption during the trail of former Republican state Sen. Dean Skelos and his son, Adam. Among those corruption charges was a county contract with Arizona-based AbTech Industries — for which the Skelos’ were later convicted.
Strangely enough — just kidding — the three candidates who are currently running for county executive didn’t see the benefits of more than 40 employees appointed by Mangano staying on if they were in office.
Nassau County Legislator Laura Curran (D-Baldwin), the Nassau Democratic Committee’s county executive nominee, said the changes are typical of the “backroom deals” that she says have defined Mangano’s tenure.
Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, a former Republican who is now running against Curran for the Democratic county executive nomination, called the reclassification an “unethical action to change the designation of certain favored political patronage employees to the protected civil service class.”
Former state Sen. Jack Martins, the Republican nominee to replace Mangano, said he has “zero tolerance for such business as usual.”
“The residents of our great county deserve better — all hires, including civil service hires, must be based on merit,” Martins said in a statement. “That is what’s wrong with government today.”
But Laricchiuta defended the job changes to Newsday, saying he had been working for months to get more county employees into union jobs.
“If some of these were patronage jobs in the past, they won’t be patronage jobs in the future,”Laricchiuta said. “That’s the way I look at it.”
We understand Laricchiuta’s desire to increase union membership. That, after all, is part of his job.
But many members of Laricchiuta’s union live in Nassau County and have to deal with the consequences of a government representing one of the wealthiest counties in New York State in year 17 of state oversight of its finances.
At the end of the day, we think this deal does more for Jerry Laricchiuta than CSEA members.
Adding insult to injury — and additional strain to county finances — the memorandum of agreement signed by Walker and Laricchiuta, took place in May.
This allowed the reclassified employees to serve a six-month probation period, if necessary, before a new administration takes office, and to collect a 2 percent union raise that took effect July 1.
Mangano may not have been much good at governing, and ethics may not have been a strong point, but he has demonstrated once again that he sure knows how to take care of his friends and cronies.
Hopefully, Nassau County taxpayers will begin getting treated half as well in January.
