A Tale of Two Citizens

The way to have power is to take it - Boss Tweed, Tammany Hall politician.

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, remarked that "New York State is upside down and backwards; high taxes and low performance. The New York State government was at one time a national model. Now, unfortunately, it's a national disgrace. Sometimes, the corruption could even make Boss Tweed blush."

Boss Tweed was a Democratic Tammany Hall politician known for his control over political patronage in New York City in the late 19th century and his ability to ensure the loyalty of voters through jobs he could create and dispense on city-related projects. 

Here in the Town of Clarkstown recent events cause one to recall the history of that time. Numerous citizens have questioned the Town Board about several outrageous patronage appointments specifically the hiring of County Legislator, Frank Sparaco, to a part time job in the Clarkstown Highway department earning $75,000 and the January 2012 retention of the recently arrested Head of the Bronx GOP, Jay Savino, to conduct the Town of Clarkstown's tax certiorari work for $87,000.  

Frank Sparaco ....
The history of the hiring of Sparaco was summed up by the Journal News in a highly critical editorial on August 22, 2012 entitled "Clarkstown puts political clout before all else in hiring of Frank Sparaco": 

Rockland County Legislature Minority Leader Frank Sparaco has been appointed “Constituent Representative” for the Clarkstown Highway Department ... keeping alive the town’s penchant for hiring political operatives .... As a Republican legislator, Sparaco has fought pay raises for county employees .... now he earns $75,000 for a 25-hour-a-week town post.  

Besides his GOP leadership role, Sparaco also had been a key player in the county’s Independence Party. Highway Superintendent Wayne Ballard, like Sparaco, is a Republican. But in Clarkstown, that’s of little matter. The Democratic supervisor, Alex Gromack, has various party leaders in his employ, and election after election, he and Ballard have been cross-endorsed and rarely challenged.

Patronage is an institution in Clarkstown. The town’s clerk of the works, Ed Lettre, executive director of the Rockland Conservative Party, has a position in the Town that pays $174,000 a year. Mary Loeffler, chair of the Rockland Conservative Party, retired as Clarkstown’s personnel director, earning $134,200. She worked part time for the town, for $50 an hour, for about six months after her retirement. Then there’s former deputy town attorney Marsha Coopersmith, who earned $126,590. She controlled the Independence Party until 2010. Then, a Sparaco-led effort wrested control of the local party and landed Sparaco’s mother-in-law, Debra Ortutay, in the chairmanship. Ortutay was sentenced to four months in jail after pleading guilty to forgery and perjury charges. Ortutay’s attorney was Jay Savino, chairman of the Bronx Republican Party. Savino was hired by Clarkstown in January for $87,000 a year to handle its tax certiorari filings.

The position raised numerous questions by the Clarkstown Taxpayers about how Savino was vetted for the tax cert position and what criteria were used to reject other firms.  Sparaco said he was eager to help town residents with road, drainage and other problems. Some of the 260 people who applied for the town Highway Department post were likely eager, too, to fulfill the position that pays a salary “commensurate with experience,”. But they didn’t have the right connections.

One of the 260 people who applied for the post that was given to Sparaco was Christine Geary of Congers.  According to the May 15, 2013 issue of Our Town, Geary had been employed by the Town as a student for seven years. She was interviewed for the Constituent Services job and, having worked in the Town's building department, was knowledgeable of the Town codes and could read spec sheets. She had attended High School with Frank Sparaco where her grades were excellent and she was very familiar with Clarkstown and the political and legal issues facing the Town as required by the Constituent Services position. Geary had also been a member of the Clarkstown Summer Theatre group for several years where she had honed her public speaking skills on stage before live audiences. 

Would it come as a surprise to anyone to learn that Geary was found "not qualified" for the job as were the other 260 applicants because as the Journal News reported in its editorial:

Ballard and Sparaco acknowledged the appointment was "political" and that other elected officials get the opportunity to appoint people of their choosing to certain jobs. After a series of interviews, Ballard said, he found Sparaco most qualified because of his familiarity with Clarkstown, ability to read blueprints and specifications, public-speaking skills and knowledge of the issues facing Clarkstown. Many of the candidates dropped out, Ballard said, when they found out it was a part-time position without benefits.

Strangely, yet tellingly, Sparaco found it necessary to add that "there was nothing underhanded about his appointment".

Ballard and Sparaco's acknowledgment to the Journal News reveals that the hiring process for the 'Constituent Services' position was a facade and they appear to have both admitted that sham interviews were conducted for the 260 applicants since "other elected officials 'appoint' people of their choosing to 'certain jobs'". What Ballard appeared in effect to be admitting was that 'certain jobs' in the Town belong to particular people thus leading citizens to opine that the Sparaco and Savino patronage positions were under the purview of the leader of the Conservative party, Ed Lettre, and the Rockland Republican Party Chairman, Vinny Reda. 

Guy Gervasi, President Clarkstown Taxpayers, addressing Superintendent of Highways Wayne Ballard last year, picked up on this theme when he asked Ballard:

Are you telling me that out of the 260 resumes that you received, it just happened that Legislator Sparaco, who controls, behind the scenes, the local Independence Party and who is a close associate of Vinny Reda - the head of the local Republicans, just happened to rise to the top of the pile? 

Please don’t say that a lot of individuals dropped out when they heard it was part time job because 99% would have stuck around if you also told them it was a $75,000/year part-time job. 

Don’t you think that you could have found someone qualified to answer phones and handle residents’ inquiries for under $20/hr? You said that this $75,000 per year position doesn’t cost the taxpayer any extra money because there is money left over in the budget. 

Well, I have a little secret for you, the extra money in the budget belongs to the taxpayers not you to use on this foolish patronage appointment.

Jay Savino ....
The history of the hiring of Jay Savino begins with ex-Town Attorney Marsha Coopersmith, who until December 31, 2011 conducted the Town's tax cert matters. Savino contributed financially in 2011 to the Independence Party of Rockland previously headed by Coopersmith and later Sparaco's mother-in-law Ortutay. The Clarkstown Town Board decided not to renew Attorney Coopersmith's contract and then outsourced her tax work to Ortutay's attorney, Jay Savino, for an annual 'retainer fee' of $87,000.

On May 1, 2012, in response to Mr. Nimick’s question to Ms. Mele about how Mr. Savino's name came to her attention since he had no prior experience in tax certiorari work, Ms Mele replied that: "I am not sure whether it was a Board member or the Supervisor who brought Savino's firm to my attention". 

Mr. Gromack followed up by saying: "Maybe it was someone that was proactive from his firm that contacted the Town Attorney's office and said if there was ever an opportunity please give me a call".  

Mr. Gromack then went on to remark: "And that's probably the way it was.  It was an outreach from him to the Town".

In numerous public meetings over the past year the Town Board was questioned about the process the Town followed to retain Savino. It was revealed that Town Attorney Mele did not conduct a proper bidding process and that Savino's appointment was an appointment of pure patronage.  Through Freedom of Information requests to the Town it was revealed that one law firm 'invited' to bid knew of Savino's oral bid and refused to bid saying that the work could not be performed for the amount Savino was claiming.  The dates of the email correspondence from this firm and one other law firm were strangely both dated January 3, 2012, the same date that Gromack announced Savino's retention nearly one year ago.

A new and previously unheard-of explanation was provided following Savino's arrest as to how his name came to the Town Attorney's attention regarding tax cert work given his firm had no prior experience in this area. In the April 09, 2013 Town Board meeting Gromack read a prepared statement stating unequivocally that the Town had received a "resume of interest" from Savino which led directly to his hiring.

Would it come as a surprise to anyone to learn that when a citizen asked to see a copy of this "resume of interest" the Town Attorney stated that it had been "discarded". Further, it was discarded, not after Savino was fired, but shortly after he was hired!

With this as prolog let us now turn to the Tale of Two Citizens as outlined in their own words to the members of the Town Board on May 07, 2013.

Citizen Christine Geary from Congers: 
I am in the unique position of having worked in the Town of Clarkstown for seven years as a student worker and I would like to say that the Town of Clarkstown, versus other Towns, is run very well. I was also in a position to see which departments were run particularly well and which departments were run particularly badly and were full of people who were not really working. 

I was also privy to a lot of knowledge because my mother was the Court Clerk for many, many years and now that she is retired I can actually say something. 

It is really nice to be able to come up here and tell you that I know there is corruption;  I know there is patronage; I know there are 'Aunt so and sos' and 'Uncle so and sos' who get people jobs. And I know who the 'nephews and nieces' are and I really would love to see the Town of Clarkstown come clean about all of it. I don't think they are the only Town that does any of this and for certain I worked for the Village of Nyack and the Village of Nyack is not run nearly as well as the Town of Clarkstown is.

I think it behoves the Town of Clarkstown to say "we are going to set an example for the rest of the Towns that we are going to run our Town correctly, politically correctly and legally".

After Citizen Geary spoke not one member of the Town Board made any inquiry about the departments which were full of people in patronage jobs doing little or no work and not one of our elected officials questioned the validity of what Ms. Geary had just told them that she knew who the "nephews and nieces" were or invited her to elaborate on her statement that "there is corruption" in the Town of Clarkstown.

Citizen Tom Nimick from New City:
I suspect that the members of the Town Board find it painful to have me face them again, but it is painful for me as well. I did not create this situation – it has been created by serious improprieties within Town government. I have a particular obligation to speak, painful as it might be, because I am in a unique situation to recognize the improprieties.

You see I have a Ph.D. in East Asian Studies from Princeton focused on the history of governance in imperial China. For twenty years I have been teaching and mentoring officer candidates and working on governance issues in academia and the church. I think about governance issues all the time in my service as a ruling elder of Germonds Presbyterian Church.

When I first attended a meeting of the Town Board I immediately recognized governance issues, issues about which I have spoken to you. As I asked questions it became clear that governance issues had their roots in serious improprieties in Town government.

I could not remain silent. I grew up in a family that took civic responsibility seriously. I observed it in my parents and my grandparents and I share it with all my siblings. It remains the right way to live, even when painful. 

I am a concerned citizen who specializes in good leadership and good governance and my responsibility has weighed heavily on me. I take no pleasure in putting you on the spot. I have brought issues to your attention privately and I am sorry that you have remained on the path you are on. I am obliged to draw upon my training on behalf of the citizens of this Town.

I am puzzled by your unwillingness to do an audit of the Office of the Town Attorney. You know about the inappropriate process through which Mr. Savino was retained, and you know about the flawed nature of the assurances from the Town Attorney that he was an appropriate choice. There are indications of other problems, but the problems in the case of Mr. Savino are out in the open for you to see. So your unwillingness is beginning to raise questions about whether you are part of the abuses of patronage.

It pains me to bring new evidence of problems. At the last meeting Mr. Gromack, in a prepared statement, finally answered my question from May, 2012, and said that Mr. Savino had contacted the Town with “a resume of interest". On April 11 I submitted a FOIL request for a copy of that “resume of interest.” Twenty-two days later I received a message from Ms. Mele saying that she had discarded the resume once he was retained. That retention was controversial from the start.

If Ms. Mele deliberately discarded the resume, then she acted unethically and unprofessionally. If she inadvertently discarded the resume then she acted incompetently.

Members of the Board, the appropriate action is to proceed with an outside audit of the Office of the Town Attorney. You have taken an oath to uphold the public trust, to exercise the authority vested in you for the good of the Town. You know that the Open Meetings Law focuses on transparency as the means to control abuse. The audit is the best means for transparency.

I have to ask each of you to stand by your oath, even if it is painful. May I wish you courage.

Given that Nimick had stated unequivically that Town Attorney Mele had "acted unethically and unprofessionally or incompetently" she offered no comment nor explanation on the discarded "resume of interest" and not one of the five elected officials questioned the validity of what Mr. Nimick had just told them even when another citizen followed Mr. Nimick and again questioned the Town Board as to what he had just heard Nimick say about the missing resume was true. 

The members of the Town Board of Clarkstown may be deficient in their responsibilities to the voters of Clarkstown in the following respects:

1) Their appearance of preferring to pander to the whims of minor party leaders by attending 'House of Horrors' meetings to obtain minority party lines instead of standing on the principles of the political party that they supposedly represent.

2) The hiring of County Legislator Frank Sparaco and their refusal to exercise their authority to override Ballard's decision to give him a $75,000 25 hour per week part time job answering the telephone.  

3) The astounding overtime issues associated with the resignation of Officer Sherwood,

4) Their refusal of requests by citizens and by the Journal News to conduct an external audit of police overtime and did an internal investigation of 6% of the overtime to prove their "integrity" while charging the taxpayers $18,000 in overtime to do so. 

5) The retention of Jay Savino in 2012, 

6) Savino's retention again in 2013 using a sloppily prepared and untruthful resolution, 

7) Their refusal to heed citizens' concerns about Savino's past behaviors.

8) Their refusal to give citizens the courtesy of a discussion about their audit request of the Town Attorney's office under a proper motion and their cavalier attitude in now being prepared to spend taxpayers' money defending a possible lawsuit to force an audit of the Town Attorney's office that would be routine and automatic if the Savino matter had occurred in any public company.

9) Despite being given further proof of the Town Attorney's unethical or incompetent behavior over the "discarding" of Savino's resume they have sat silent refusing to allow transparency to be the hallmark of their actions.

10) Their conduct is now revealed to be intentional and not merely negligent and with the course of mute action that they are unanimously pursuing they are increasing the divide between them as public servants and we the citizens they have a sworn duty to faithfully and individually represent. 

Paraphrasing Charles Dickens from 'A Tale of Two Cities', Clarkstown citizens may now be believing that:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope .....

Is it now the winter of despair?

Michael N. Hull is a retired senior citizen who writes opinion pieces on theology, philosophy and local political issues. He is a Director of Clarkstown Residents Opposing Patronage (CROP) with Tom Nimick and Ralph Sabatini.