The state of the county’s ethics can be neatly summarized by the number of people sanctioned by the Nassau County Board of Ethics for ethical violations in the past five years: none.
This during a time in which three Nassau County legislators reported to prison, County Executive Edward Mangano has been indicted, and his chief deputy, Rob Walker, has admitted on the stand in another corruption trial that he is under federal investigation.
That we know this is due to the tenacity of Blank Slate Media reporter Noah Manskar, who obtained records of the ethics board through a Freedom of Information request.
The board — which aims to protect against conflicts of interest, bribery, nepotism and other abuses by public officials and employees — said any complaints received during that period “did not result in any final decision where the board found that a violation had occurred” and imposed a penalty.
The board’s lack of enforcement is no surprise given its makeup — the county attorney and four other members are all appointed by the county executive, the aforementioned indicted Mangano.
The board has no dedicated staff. County Attorney Carnell Foskey says two or three employees from his office work there regularly, but one would have to be hard pressed to find any proof of that.
Making matters worse, the board has been at less than full strength for more than four years.
Mangano never appointed a replacement for Stephen Turman, the board’s only Democrat who resigned in protest in May 2013 when the board found that a public works commissioner who approved a contract for her sister’s firm had done nothing wrong. Turman call the board’s investigative process a “fabrication,” Newsday reported at the time.
Albert D’Agostino, whom Mangano appointed to the board that year, resigned on May 7 of this year, he said in an interview. His place on the board remains unfilled.
“In general terms, it suggests it’s the kind of ethics commission the elected officials want — one that is not causing trouble and examining their behavior and potentially sanctioning them,” James Svara, the author of several articles on government ethics and a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina’s School of Government, said of the board’s operation.
The county Legislature in July unanimously passed a bill, pushed by Republicans, aimed at making the board more active and visible — just as the campaigns for county executive and legislators began. Coincidence? We report and you can decide.
The new law empowers the board to start its own investigations and gives it independent funding and staff, including an executive director. It also requires the board to submit an annual report to the Legislature and sets a 60-day deadline for filling vacancies — with approval required from the Legislature.
The law also places prohibits the appointment of members active in county politics. Two current members — board member John Ryan, a Floral Park attorney, is vice chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee and chairman Owen Smith is on the county payroll as counsel to the Board of Elections’ Republican commissioner.
The reforms are long overdue steps in the right direction.
But they have two holes, each of which you could drive a truck through — all four members are appointed by the county executive and approved by the county Legislature.
The current county executive is as we have pointed out Mangano.
We don’t believe the two candidates to replace Mangano would repeat his mistakes. But we shouldn’t give them, or some successor, a chance to try.
And the county Legislature, which should have been a check on county corruption in recent years, has repeatedly failed to do so.
In fact, the Republican majority in the Legislature voted to re-elect Norma Gonsalves as presiding officer after a state Supreme Court judge fined her campaign committee $14,000 for failing to file 10 reports disclosing donations and expenditures from 2013 to 2015.
Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas called for the appointment of an independent inspector general to oversee county contracts after an investigation in 2016 found numerous holes in the oversight process.
The same approach should be taken for members of the ethics board by putting board appointments in the hands of an independent panel.
County Republicans rejected Singas’ proposal, opting for reforms that left the county executive in charge.
That’s not good enough.
To restore trust in county government, the Legislature needs to appoint an independent inspector general to oversee county contracts and allow an independent panel appoint members of the ethics board.
