A Golden Opportunity; Videos shared for the public , confirms what we have suspected all along
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The Good: Frank Sporaco is my Legislator. Personally, I have never voted for him. Certainly Frank is no angel and has accepted a political patronage job which I and the Clarkstown Taxpayers are completely, unabashedly and vehemently against. This is probably the reason that Frank Borelli, Dennis Malone and Larry Weissman felt he would be amenable to their back room deal to get Mr. Malone the Independence and Working Family lines.
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In Rockland County, where cross-endorsements abound; where one person runs on all lines; where back room deals are made; where party lines and jobs are traded like so many baseball cards, Frank Sporaco had the courage and took the initiative to stand up against this blatant and outrageous corruption scheme , to stand up and say No This needs to end Now !
Mr. Sporaco was bombarded and barraged for months with threats of ruination and disgrace if he didn’t go along with Messrs. Borelli, Malone and Weissman and their underhanded plans. Sporaco felt he had no way out other than to protect himself. Knowing full well that no one would believe the “guy with the patronage job”, he chose to tape some of the meetings. Although, he was threatened that if he didn’t play ball, he would be smeared in the media (a threat being played out even as I write this) he released the tapes and let us all see how truly ugly the back room deals get. Citizens no longer need to speculate over what has been taking place behind these doors and with Sporaco’s disclosure, the evidence he has given us is nothing short of a giant leap in transparency. Consequences will assuredly be forthcoming to his political future but we are glad that finally someone was willing to step forward and shed light on political corruption and of the self serving interests of career politicians.
The Bad: Larry Weissman is the attorney for the Rockland County Democratic Party.
“ I'm asking you to stay home for the summer. And he (Dennis Malone), all he is saying is that he'll change your job from 25 hours to 40 hours”
“ Whatever fulltime. And make it public that, look the man (Frank Sparaco) deserves this job;
he's done a good job. It shouldn't be part time; it's a full time gig. Ya know, and just leave it at that.
And then you get your benefits. (Interrupted) No, he'll know if you are out there. He'll know if the
absentee ballots come in from you. He'll know. We'll know if you are out and about. No.
You're going to have to make it a show, we know that. Just leave a month before petit,
ah, absentees”
As Mr. Weissman is not employed by the taxpayers of Clarkstown, we can leave him and his
despicable actions to the Grievance Committee or to the New York State Bar.
The Ugly: Frank Borelli is a Councilperson on the Town Board of Clarkstown.
The venom that Mr. Borelli has for Wayne Ballard is nothing short of legendary. Although Mr. Borelli says differently, it pre-dates the consolidation of the garages as well as Mr. Ballard’s hiring of Frank Sporaco. Councilman Borelli supported Dennis Malone in his last bid for Highway Superintendent. This feud actually started with some speed bumps that Mr. Borelli wanted on the streets of his neighborhood. Apparently, Mr. Ballard did not get to them soon enough to satisfy his demands.
If you have ever attended Town Board meetings and workshops, you will have seen examples of this vendetta such as chastising Ballard for not taking care of County streams. Then not wanting to give the Highway Department enough money to fix and properly maintain the roads in Clarkstown.
In a Press Release on July 15, 2013, Councilman Borelli said he has purportedly “put my loyalty to the families and taxpayers of Clarkstown over my loyalties to political parties, political bosses, elected officials and political hacks.” However, he has voted for the Special Bargaining Unit Agreement, $5 million for the continuation of the “Congers Boardwalk”, $2.8 million to repair the community centers, raises for Town employees, and the only money he has tried to save the families and taxpayers of Clarkstown was a petty and unsuccessful attempt to attack Shirley Lasker’s stipend of $10,000 per year for her additional duties as Deputy Town Supervisor.
All in all, it has been a disgusting display, but nothing compared to what has now transpired.
Borelli: “Not that I don't trust you, I just, God forbid somebody recorded me say something. I'm like, I don't need, that's the one thing I don't need out of all of this is some . . .”
It seems to me that if you did nothing wrong, you shouldn’t mind being taped.
The really, really ugly: Dennis Malone is the Fleet Manager of the Town of Clarkstown.
Let us start at the beginning. Dennis Malone was the Transit Operations Supervisor of the Mini Trans Garage. He was in charge of maintaining the mini buses for the Town of Clarkstown. In his capacity as the Supervisor of the Mini Trans Garage, he got his daughter a job in the Highway Department and his son-in-law a job in the Mini Trans Department. His wife also works for the Town Building Department as a Senior Clerk Typist. The four Malones together, before overtime, make $261,474 according to the 2013 Salary Schedule. Mr. Malone is no stranger to the patronage job.
In 2011, he ran for Highway Superintendent against Wayne Ballard and lost.
The Town Board had decided to consolidate the garages in Clarkstown (we had three – the Highway Garage, the Police Garage and the Mini Trans Garage). The garages were consolidated and Mr. Malone was given a patronage appointment and made Fleet Manager in September, 2012 by appointment of the Town Board, with Frank Borelli’s blessing . Shirley Lasker was the sole dissenting vote. As Mr. Malone took no civil service test for this job and was appointed by the Town Board, the Fleet Manager patronage position was solely created for Malone.
Adding insult to injury, Mr. Malone refused to report to Wayne Ballard, Superintendent of Highways. This initiated a lawsuit from the New York State Association of Highway Superintendents which is still pending. Should the Judge decide that the Fleet Manager position is illegal, Mr. Malone would be out of a job.
Hence, Larry Weissman’s statement “Dam, Borelli told me, privately, if he withdrew from the law suit, he would make him (Malone) get out.”
Now, Dennis Malone is once again running against Wayne Ballard. What is truly laughable is that he is running on the platform that his first act as Highway Superintendent would be to fire Frank Sporaco and eliminate his job and that he is against political patronage.
Not only does this newly uncovered deal include keeping Frank Sporaco, he would making his job full time. Another dirty deal will be giving a job to Ron Altman, a man on disability and who allegedly still owes the Town a fine in the amount of $6,623 out of $8,373 for burying a hand grenade in his backyard. According to Larry Weissman, “He (Malone) goes, ‘I'll create a foreman's position for Ron’.
Webster’s dictionary should add another synonym for Hypocrite -- “ Malone”
The undeniable facts of this scenario are:
1. Borelli, Malone and Weissman met with Frank Sporaco;
2. Borelli, Malone and Weissman offered Frank Sporaco compensation for obtaining the third party lines for Malone;
3. Frank Sporaco taped some of these conversations;
4. Frank Sporaco released the tapes;
5. Borelli, Malone and Weissman are scrambling to shut the door of the back room.
In the words of Councilman Frank Borelli in his Press Release, “In my opinion this type of dirty back room deal is a disservice to the taxpayers and should not be tolerated in Clarkstown.” Mr. Borelli, truer words were never spoken. Councilman Borelli forgot an important fundamental element of any ethical person – practice what you preach.
Amy Durbin / Vice President Clarkstown Taxpayers
