BUSH APPOINTEE in Northern District of New York, Deals Right to Dissent a Death Blow! Options

[Livyjr]

October 13, 1988

Dr. Ian T. Loudon, M.D.
Regional Health Director
State of New York Department of Health
Albany Regional Office
Building 7A
State Office Building Campus
Albany, New York 12226

Dear Dr. Loudon,

As of October 13, 1988, our Director of Environmental Health/Associate Public Health Engineer has been placed on a paid leave of absence status for thirty working days.

A copy of my memorandum to the County Executive on this matter, which cites contributing factors, is attached hereto.

Although there are other options available for dealing with this issue, I HAVE HOPES THAT THE LEAST PAINFUL AND MOST HUMANITARIAN APPROACH HAS BEEN INITIALLY TAKEN.

WHETHER PLAINTIFF SEES IT THAT WAY OR NOT, I CAN'T SAY.

Kenneth Van Praag
Rensselaer County Public Health Director

"$3,000 in fake taxi rides alleged"

By JAY JOCHNOWITZ, State editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, April 4, 2008

ALBANY -- A Health Department assistant director whose job included disciplining other employees for misconduct billed the state for more than $3,000 in taxi rides she never took, the state Inspector General's Office said Thursday.

The office said Luella Kelley, 62, assistant director in the Bureau of Employee Relations and Staff Development, had been filing expenses since 1995 for taxi fares from her home to the Amtrak station even though she drove her car.

The charges ran upwards of $30.

Had she billed for mileage, the cost would have averaged $9.

According to the inspector general, Kelley charged the state for "taxi fare in lieu of mileage" and when asked about it responded, "I was never told that I couldn't or shouldn't do that."

Health Department policy states that an employee traveling on state business can bill only for actual expenses, the inspector general noted.

Kelley also billed for her parking at the train station and for meals "to which she was not entitled," the state says.

Kelley, who has been with the state for 40 years and earns $87,000 annually, has been temporarily reassigned while the Health Department weighs disciplinary action.

The inspector general also faulted the Health Department's travel unit staff for failing "to follow proper procedures and to detect the inappropriate expense claims."

The agency is reviewing its internal controls, has installed an electronic travel reimbursement system, is going back through past claims of taxi expenses and will perform audits.

The inspector general also recommended training so that people traveling on state business know the reimbursement rules.

[Livyjr]

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE - FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

JUNE 30, 1989

On October 6, 1988, "an Ad Hoc Engineering Committee" held a closed door meeting in the Rensselaer County Office Building which started at approximately 4:00 p.m. and which was the result, according to PLAINTIFF, of a "deal" between [DELETED BY F.B.I. CENSORS] and the Rensselaer County Developer's Organization.

In PLAINTIFF's view, the purpose of this "Ad Hoc Engineering Committee meeting" was to tell PLAINTIFF how to do business in the Health Department, or else he "would not do business".

According to PLAINTIFF, he was instructed as to how business was done in Rensselaer County in 1983 and was further instructed to abide by agreements made in 1983 wherein, PLAINTIFF understood, Health Department officials certified projects in return for contributions to various politicians.

******

Shortly thereafter, PLAINTIFF was placed on thirty days sick leave and the Rensselaer County Executive went on local television announcing that PLAINTIFF was suffering from stress related to his service in Viet Nam.

PLAINTIFF was replaced, in the Health Department, by one Claude Rounds who, according to PLAINTIFF, immediately certified many of the projects which PLAINTIFF had refused to certify because in PLAINTIFF's view they were uncertifiable.

PLAINTIFF stated that he was told by Rensselaer County Public Health Director Kenneth Van Praag on October 12, 1988 that he, (PLAINTIFF) had "upset some of the most powerful men in Rensselaer County" and that Van Praag could no longer "protect" PLAINTIFF.

PLAINTIFF noted that he advised the Ad Hoc Engineering Committee on the evening of October 6, 1988, he intended to go to the New York State health Department concerning this meeting which he considered to be an outrageous violation of ethical and professional standards.

Subsequently, the county held formal hearings, the purpose of which was to remove PLAINTIFF from office for insubordination and other charges.

A Special Agent of the FBI at Albany attended some of these hearings.

- EXCERPT from pages 202,203 of the O'Connor BIBLE submitted to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City in this matter on behalf of defendant REPUBLICAN Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen Jimino and her co-defendants, in or about November of 2005

And to further "flesh that out" .....

THE ALLEGATION THAT NEW YORK STATE HAS A PROBLEM WITH CORRUPTION .....

Let us go ....

For the moment .....

To ARTICLE 460 ....

Of the New York State Penal Law ....

Which is entitled ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION ...

That ARTICLE OF LAW being a part of TITLE X of the New York State Penal Law ....

Entitled ORGANIZED CRIME CONTROL ACT ....

And the relevant part of that state law which pertains directly to this discussion in here ....

Is as follows:

S 460.00 Legislative findings.

The legislature (of the State of New York) finds and determines as follows:

Organized crime in New York state involves highly sophisticated, complex and widespread forms of criminal activity.

The diversified illegal conduct engaged in by organized crime, rooted in the illegal use of force, fraud, and corruption, constitutes a major drain upon the state's economy, costs citizens and businesses of the state billions of dollars each year, and threatens the peace, security and general welfare of the people of the state.

Organized crime continues to expand its corrosive influence in the state through illegal enterprises engaged in such criminal endeavors as the theft and fencing of property, the importation and distribution of narcotics and other dangerous drugs, arson for profit, hijacking, labor racketeering, loansharking, extortion and bribery, the illegal disposal of hazardous wastes, syndicated gambling, trafficking in stolen securities, insurance and investment frauds, and other forms of economic and social exploitation.

The money and power derived by organized crime through its illegal enterprises and endeavors is increasingly being used to infiltrate and corrupt businesses, unions and other legitimate enterprises and to corrupt our democratic processes.

And so .....

GROUND ZERO ....

In this discussion on "GOVERNMENT PORK" ....

HERE IN THE CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK ....

WHICH IS COMPETING WITH YOUR STATE, OUT THERE ....

AND YOUR ECONOMY ...

WHETHER YOU KNOW ABOUT IT ....

OR NOT ....

And so ....

"7 charged in NY Mercantile probe"

By SAMUEL MAULL, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:52 p.m., Tuesday, April 8, 2008

NEW YORK -- Seven people are charged in a probe of illegal trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange -- including a former board member who has pleaded guilty in exchange for five months in jail, authorities said Tuesday.

Steven J. Karvellas pleaded guilty to violating New York's general business law and tampering with physical evidence.

Besides the jail time, he will receive five years of probation and must pay $850,000 in fines and legal costs.

Three other people already have pleaded guilty for participating in fraudulent commodities trading; another three have been arrested and their cases are pending.

Karvellas, who could have gotten up to four years in prison on either of the charges, was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 9.

From 1990 until this year, Karvellas was a floor broker who traded at the exchange.

Authorities said he owned two Manhattan-based companies: Steven J. Karvellas and Co., a natural gas trading company, and Commercial Brokerage Corp.

Court papers say Karvellas was on the exchange's board of directors from 1996 to 2000.

He also served as chairman of the exchange's Adjudication and Compliance Review Committee from 2000 to 2003.

As part of his plea deal, Karvellas admitted he delayed customer orders to buy or sell natural gas contracts while watching the direction in which the market was moving, prosecutors said.

If the market moved in a direction that made the order profitable, Karvellas took the contract for himself, prosecutors said.

They said customer orders would be executed later at a less favorable price or not at all.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and Gregory Mocek, director of enforcement of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, announced the charges in a news conference.

Neither would estimate the total value of futures contracts that Karvellas traded.

Morgenthau said Karvellas' methods allowed him "to engage in risk-free investing for his own account and deprived his customers of the profits they would have realized had he made the trades properly."

Because Karvellas had been a member of the NYMEX compliance committee, Morgenthau said, "You've got the fox in the chicken house."

"Here was a guy who was supposed to watch out for fraud."

Mocek said the CFTC is self-regulating and always on the lookout for fraud.

Once Karvellas' illegal activity was discovered, he said, the CFTC took it very seriously because he had been a high-ranking member of the exchange.

The illegal activity occurred between September 2002 and May 2003.

This post has been edited by Livyjr: Apr 9 2008, 05:45 AM

[Livyjr]

And once again ....

For anyone just stopping by for the first time ....

What we are looking at in here is a very slick government-protected "CUSTOM WITNESS ELIMINATION SERVICE" that is operating in the Capital District area of the State of New York ...

Specifically, in the County of Rensselaer in this case ...

A rural county just east of Albany, New York that happens to be the PERSONAL FIEFDOM of REPUBLICAN New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph "Big Joe" Bruno .....

A CUSTOM WITNESS ELIMINATION SERVICE where if you have the "right connections", you can make "arrangements" with a CORPORATE ENTITY known as Northeast Health, Inc., in Troy, New York ....

To "purchase" what is called an INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT ORDER that will "declare" that your "enemy of choice" is mentally ill and dangerous in an ORDER to the New York State Police to "TAKE THIS PERSON DOWN" and place them in four-point restraints for transport to the GULAG, or secure mental health facility that Northeast Health, Inc. operates, with the BLESSINGS of the State of New York, and the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York at its Samaritan Hospital facility located in the City of Troy, New York .....

Where they are then "just gone" .....

Never more to trouble you again ....

And so .....

And where we are right now in this discussion .....

Is at the point of where the federal lawsuit that was dismissed with PREJUDICE against the PLAINTIFF in here, a New York State licensed professional engineer investigating on-going corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health who was falsely branded as being mentally ill and dangerous by Dr. John Christian Braaten, a CORPORATE DOCTOR for Northeast Health, actually began .....

And that was November 19, 2002 ....

In Rensselaer County Supreme Court ....

Before this matter was then transferred up to the federal District Court for the Northern District of New York in Albany, New York .....

Just across the Hudson River from Troy ...

And the GULAG ....

This matter that went up to federal District Court and subsequently to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City began when Jeffrey Pelletier, a politically-connected individual in the County of Rensselaer, LAUNDERED this false instrument that he was able to allegedly purchase from Northeast Health, Inc through Rensselaer County Supreme Court ...

So as to get the PLAINTIFF herein BARRED from being able to bring any charges against Pelletier ...

Including assault charges ...

For an assault that Pelletier committed against the PLAINTIFF that was captured on videotape as it happened ...

Which videotape, along with his ability to actually PROCURE this false instrument from Northeast Health falsely declaring the PLAINTIFF to be mentally ill and dangerous, has made Pelletier a local HERO up here in the State of New York .....

A TEFLON MAN ....

Against whom no charges can be made to stick ....

And so ......

That is where we are right now ...

After spending a considerable amount of time constructing the necessary background information in here ...

As to the actual history of this matter in the State of New York .....

Where in 1989, the County of Rensselaer alone allegedly spent in excess of $100,000 of OUR taxpayer money in the original assault on the integrity of this same individual ....

TO PROTECT CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ....

An effort which ultimately drew in the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States Department of Justice ....

The Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York ....

And the Attorney General of the State of New York ....

And so ....

"Push for ethics reform falls flat - Law's mandates, aimed at improving oversight of lawmakers, are unmet"

By IRENE JAY LIU, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, April 9, 2008

ALBANY -- More than a year after state leaders passed what they called "landmark" ethics legislation, the commission that is supposed to make sure legislators aren't breaking the law is itself not following the law.

The legislation called for reorganizing the Legislative Ethics Committee into the Legislative Ethics Commission, as well as appointing a nine-member board of legislators and non-legislators, building a Web site and posting generic advisory opinions of the commission to the Web, among other things.

On nearly all fronts, the commission has so far failed to implement the law.

In passing the legislation, lawmakers agreed to appoint a commission that would be composed of four legislators and five "independent" members who were not part of the Legislature.

This was a key change -- in the past, all members were legislators.

After the legislation was passed, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, and Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith each appointed two members to the commission -- a legislator and an "independent" member.

The ninth, "tie-breaker" member is a joint appointment by Bruno and Silver.

So far, that position has not been filled.

"They haven't sat down to discuss the appointment," said Silver spokesman Sisa Moyo.

Bruno spokesman Scott Reif said the focus right now is on finalizing a state budget.

"Senator Bruno will meet with the speaker to discuss this appointment at the appropriate time," he said.

Neither Moyo nor Reif would say when an appointment would be made.

Under the terms of the ethics reform agreement, all nine appointments were supposed to be made within 30 days of the bill's passage on April 26, 2007.

None of the appointments were made within the deadline.

The law also said the commission must launch a Web site within 120 days of the bill's passage.

A bare-bones Web site was launched in late March, nine months after the deadline.

It included only an annual report but no advisory opinions.

The commission's executive director, Melissa Ryan, said difficulties in coordinating with the Assembly and Senate, and changing decisions about whether to have the Web site built in-house or by an outside designer contributed to the delays.

The law mandates that the commission publish generic advisory opinions on the Web site, answering ethics questions frequently asked by legislators.

When legislators want clarifications about ethics rules, they can request formal advisory opinions of the commission, but the requests and formal opinions are secret and not subject to Freedom of Information laws.

The commission hasn't started working on the generic opinions.

"We haven't discussed it yet, but we will be addressing it very soon," Ryan said.

The legislative ethics committee has long been considered the least transparent of the state's ethics watchdog agencies.

"Historically, this has been a committee that has operated in secret, the information they do make available to the public is not of any use, the key information useful to the public is redacted," said Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research Group, which fought for the legislative reforms last year.

Neither the committee nor commission has ever issued a notice of probable cause or assessed a penalty for wrongdoing, according to Ryan, who served as executive director of the committee as well.

In several instances the commission never took action against lawmakers who had been accused or convicted of crimes:

Assemblywoman Diane Gordon, D-Brooklyn, who was convicted Tuesday of trying to have a private developer build her a $500,000 home for a dollar in exchange for arranging a $2 million land deal.

Sen. Efrain Gonzalez, D-Bronx, who is awaiting trial on federal charges that he funneled nearly half a million taxpayer dollars through a charity to finance his cigar company, buy Yankees tickets and pay his daughter's tuition.

Former Sen. Guy Velella, R-Bronx, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges for steering public works contracts to favored bidders for kickbacks.

Haven said the changes to the legislative committee were the weakest part of the ethics reform bill, and the result is "there doesn't appear to be any difference."

"Nothing in terms of public activity that would indicate that things have improved."

When asked why Haven and his colleagues haven't filed complaints to the commission as allowed by the new law, Haven replied, "In some areas, we've largely thrown up our hands and said until we reform this entity, we're not going to get real investigations or stringent rulings."

"After a while you sort of give up a little bit," he said.

Irene Jay Liu can be reached at 454-5081 or by e-mail at iliu@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"NY's chief judge is suing state over colleagues' pay"

By SAMUEL MAULL, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:33 p.m., Thursday, April 10, 2008

NEW YORK -- The state's chief judge sued the state Thursday over its failure to increase judicial salaries.

The lawsuit by Chief Judge Judith Kaye was filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court.

It says that because the state's judges have not had a pay hike since January 1999, their salaries have in effect shrunk by 27 percent.

Kaye's lawyer, Bernard Nussbaum, said it is illegal to reduce a sitting judge's salary, and that is in effect what has happened.

The state budget approved Wednesday by the Legislature includes $48 million for pay raises that would include the judges.

But while that funding is available in the budget, the money can't be spent until the Legislature agrees to a bill that would authorize the raises.

Nussbaum said the state's 1,250 judges sometimes make less than freshman associates in New York City's larger law firms.

The jurists' annual average pay, ranging from $108,800 for a full-time city court judge to Kaye's salary of $156,000, ranks 49th in the nation, the lawyer said.

Nussbaum, a former counsel in the Clinton White House, said he wants state judges to earn the same as federal judges, $169,300 a year.

He said he is asking for a trial on May 14 and has said that he will try to have Gov. David Paterson and other state leaders summoned to testify.

"We're asking for an order that the money be paid," Nussbaum said.

He said this means the court would issue a judgment directing the state treasury, through the comptroller, to pay the judges.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, a Republican, issued a statement saying that rather than suing, judges should step up pressure on the Assembly to act on either of two pay increase bills already approved by the Senate.

A spokesman said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, supports pay raises for judges, agency commissioners and legislators.

While state leaders agree judges' raises are overdue, the issue has been stalled because lawmakers linked it to politically sensitive raises for themselves.

Other state employees have had at least cost-of-living bumps.

Kaye spokesman David Bookstaver said salaries for nonunion court employees are frozen at a maximum of $115,000 so they won't make more than the judges.

Nussbaum said lawmakers in each legislative house have tried to put blame on members of the other, but they are all to blame.

"It's their fault," he said.

He said the lawmakers' linkage of judges' pay to salary hikes for themselves is illegal and has blocked the judges' wage boosts.

Nussbaum, who says he is working on the case for free, said the difference between this lawsuit and two others brought by judges is that this one is being filed by "a separate branch of government," not by Kaye as an individual.

The lawyer said Kaye was able to file it in state court, before a judge who will be affected by the outcome, because of the 500-year-old "rule of necessity."

He said this means that if every available judge would normally be disqualified, then any judge other than the one filing the lawsuit can hear the case.

[Livyjr]

"NY town judge faces censure in ticket fix for Army buddy's wife"

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:03 p.m., Thursday, April 10, 2008

ALBANY -- A divided New York Commission on Judicial Conduct has agreed to merely reprimand an upstate town justice who dismissed a speeding ticket for a deployed soldier's wife, but another commissioner called it "a distorted vision of patriotism" and said the judge should be removed.

Eight commissioners agreed that Farmington Town Justice Morris H. Lew fixed Lori Gilmore's 2005 speeding ticket soon after he received an e-mail from Martin Gilmore in Iraq wondering what could be done.

The men had been in the Army Reserves together.

Afterward, Lew sent Martin Gilmore an e-mail, which said in part:

"The ticket has been dismissed."

"Please consider it a very small token of thanks for your efforts in uniform."

The commission majority said ticket-fixing was a widespread problem across the state in the 1970s before 140 judges were disciplined, and it was "egregious conduct" in this case that would normally warrant a judge's removal.

According to the commission, Lew had quietly taken the case from a fellow town judge and scheduled it quickly without notifying that judge, the ticketing state trooper or Lori Gilmore.

He told the trooper, who happened to be in court that evening, he would dismiss it unless the officer objected.

Six commissioners cited mitigating factors to warrant the lesser punishment of censure: Lew's otherwise umblemished record and his patriotism.

"It is apparent that respondent was motivated in significant part by the desire to provide 'a very small token of thanks' to an acquaintance in the military who was then serving in Iraq."

"While this does not excuse respondent's actions, it appears that his judgment was clouded by that fact and by his desire to make what he viewed as a patriotic gesture," the majority concluded.

The six were Judge Thomas Klonick, attorney Stephen Coffey, Colleen DiPirro, attorney Paul Harding, Judge Karen Peters and Judge Terry Jane Ruderman.

Two commissioners, Judge Jill Konviser and attorney Richard Emery, said Lew should be removed, which had also been the recommendation of commission counsel Robert Tembeckjian.

In his dissent, Emery wrote that Lew simply fixed a ticket for a friend's wife "and removal is the only sanction that is commensurate with the corrosive effect of judicial decision-making perverted by a judge's personal interests."

He also criticized Lew's decision to consider honoring his friend's military service ahead of applying the law evenhandedly and questioned the majority's rationale.

It not only failed as a mitigating circumstance, Emery wrote, it made the action worse.

"What Judge Lew forgot to consider is that his friend in Iraq, as well as many in the armed services, likely believe they are fighting to protect their country and the freedom guaranteed to each of its citizens by the Constitution of the United States," Emery wrote.

"By intentionally violating the basic precepts of due process and equal protection, the judge may have done a favor that even his distorted vision of patriotism should abhor."

Lew could challenge the commission finding before the state Court of Appeals, which could then impose a greater or lesser discipline, Tembeckjian said.

If he doesn't challenge it, the commission's finding will become final in 30 days.

Lew said Thursday he disagrees with the commission finding, but challenging it wouldn't serve any purpose.

"I want my constituents to know I didn't fix any traffic tickets," Lew said.

"The trooper who wrote this ticket chose to dismiss this ticket totally of his own volition without any coercion of any kind."

"I didn't make any attempt whatsoever to influence his decision."

The only similar case recently, where patriotism was the defense, resulted in the removal of a town judge who went to Iraq to work as a contract truck driver for several months in 2005, Tembeckjian said.

The commission unanimously concluded North Hudson Town Justice Glenn Fiore had abandoned the office.

[Livyjr]

In a just-released March 31, 2005 Decision of Federal Court for the Northern District of New York, with grave consequences to the common citizen in the Northern District of New York who must have the certification of an expert witness in order to file certain Petitions for Redress of Grievance in the Courts of the State of New York, where negligence or malfeasance by the state or one of its political subdivisions is alleged, a recently-appointed Federal District Court Judge has refused to grant injunctive relief to the Plaintiff therein, a New York State licensed professional engineer and certified associate public health engineer, that would have given him protection of law in the State of New York while giving testimony in court ON BEHALF OF the citizens of the State of New York, against the State of New York, or one of its political subdivisions.

The issue before the Court in that matter, Case No. 1:03-CV-753, Matter of Plante, P.E. v. State of New York et al., requiring injunctive relief from the Federal District Court is a retaliatory practice in the Northern District of New York employed against an expert witness against the State of New York, BY THE STATE, where it simply removes the expert witness, as a witness against itself, by the expedient of having one of its doctors issue a signed declaration, SIGHT UNSEEN, that the witness in fact is an alleged dangerous mental patient who requires immediate incarceration in a secure mental health facility in the State of New York!

That order, known as a "9.45", then goes to the New York State Police, who capture the person, the intended victim, as it were, and take him to a designated secure mental health facility, for incarceration!

The "PSYCHIATRIC TAKEDOWN", it is called, and it is illegal, in that a doctor in the State of New York, BY FEDERAL and STATE LAW, both, cannot issue one of these orders IF he has never even seen the person, let alone examined him or her in person, as happened in this just-dismissed case involving this expert witness on behalf of the people of the State of New York, where the state's doctor issued a fraudulent "9.45" order for this expert witness, SIGHT UNSEEN, just days before this expert witness was going to file an affidavit on behalf of the citizens of Rensselaer County documenting continuing corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health having an adverse impact on the public health, safety, and well-being in the Town of Poestenkill, County of Rensselaer, State of New York!

In this case, THE STATE OF NEW YORK "TOOK OUT", as if it were the MAFIA, itself, it took out a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York, who is licensed by the State of New York, by having three nurses, themselves licensed by the same state licensing agency, the New York State Department of Education, file false reports concerning this licensed engineer, and by having a doctor licensed by the same New York State Department of Education file a fraudulent 9.45 psychiatric arrest warrant with the New York State Police, the VA Police, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and the FBI!

The engineer, the nurses, and the doctor are all subject to the same Rules of Professional Practice in the State of New York, and those rules require substantial compliance at all times with ALL federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations.

In this case, the three nurses and the doctor all allegedly broke state and perhaps federal laws as well, and in a potentially criminal manner, according to Rensselaer County Criminal Court Justice Hon. Patrick McGrath, and the state, through the Office of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer wrapped its arms around them, and they are blessed!

Broke the law?

So what!

It was necessary to protect the interests of the state!

Say what?

To protect the "interests" of the state, the state licenses engineers to protect and safeguard life, health and property in the state, and THAT IS THE STATE'S CONTINUING AND ABIDING INTEREST, RIGHT THERE, AND THERE ALONE!

The POLICE POWER!

AND the state has no other!

The state cannot "drop" its police power for political purposes, deny some the protection of law for the benefit of the profits of another, and yet, according to the FBI, that is exactly what was happening here!

And we are not then supposed to be able to have this wrong redressed, because it will treaten someone's illicit profits, and someone else's graft?

How exactly is that, is what I would ask in return!

Except by force against us, and that is exactly the issue here, silence by extortion!

KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT, AND YOU WON'T BE HURT!

I don't know about anyone else out there in OUR America, but that sure don't work for me, I can tell you!

That gear just ain't in my transmission!

And so ......

"Knapp attorney gets adviser role - 'Serpico' case resulted in shake-up; too soon to tell in trooper probe"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, April 10, 2008

ALBANY -- It's too early to say whether Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's recently-launched probe of possible political meddling by the State Police will resemble the Knapp Commission, said Michael Armstrong, the veteran prosecutor who served on the 1970s-era panel that uncovered corruption in the New York City Police Department.

"It really depends on what we find," said Armstrong, who, along with fellow-lawyer Robert Fiske, was named by Cuomo on Wednesday as a volunteer adviser on the State Police probe.

The Knapp Commission in 1972 issued a report outlining systemic corruption among police in the Big Apple.

Prompted in part by testimony from former city cop Frank Serpico, it led to changes, including increased accountability by commanders.

Last week, Gov. David Paterson asked Cuomo to investigate whether members of the State Police have been involved in political interference.

The request came after former Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in March amid a prostitution scandal, and followed months of accusations by Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno that Spitzer had used troopers to keep tabs on him.

Armstrong, a partner at the Howrey firm, was chief counsel to the Knapp Commission.

Fiske, a partner at law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, was the first independent counsel in the 1990s Whitewater investigation into land deals involving Bill and Hillary Clinton.

"No two lawyers are better qualified in the country than Robert Fiske and Michael Armstrong," Cuomo said in a statement.

"They have decades of experience and wisdom investigating corruption at the highest levels of government."

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

The Albany, New York Times Union

March 3, 1995

"State investigates Rensselaer County agency - Inquiry focues on qualifications of Health Department staff to provide engineering services"

by Joseph Picchi, Staff Writer

Rensselaer County Public Health Director Kathryn Abernethy acknowledged Thursday that two officials from the state Education Department were investigating a complaint that the agency was performing engineering duties without a professional engineer.

The complaint was filed by PLAINTIFF, who was fired as ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR in 1988 after a lengthy hearing and has since been battling the county over WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION PAY and CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUES.

"PLAINTIFF has some questions over whether we were performing engineering duties without an engineer," said Abernethy.

"I would reply we were not."

Abernethy said she met with the two officials later in the day TO ENSURE THEM the agency was complying with the engineering review of required projects such as housing subdivisions, water and sewer plans, and commercial development.

More discussions are planned.

THE COUNTY SLICED $58,000 OUT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSONNEL, FORCING THE AGENCY TO CONTRACT OUT THE SERVICES TO TWO PRIVATE PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS, CARL AIKEN AND PETER CHIEFARI.

They do the environmental engineering work AND APPROVE SUBDIVISION PLANS.

THE TWO OFFICIALS, ANTHONY SIGNORACCI AND RICHARD TRUMBELL, ARE FROM THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT'S OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL DISCIPLINE, according to Abernethy.

Chris Carpenter, a department spokesman, said he could not confirm or deny an inquiry is taking place unless charges are filed.

"No charges have been filed," he said.

Cutbacks, INCLUDING THE ELIMINATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER, occurred on Dec. 31.

Since that time, said Abernethy, all environmental engineering work was on hold until the work was contracted out to private engineers.

County Executive John L. Buono knew nothing about the inquiry, but maintained the county's environmental engineering work is being operated properly.

PLAINTIFF WAS FIRED AFTER A LENGTHY BATTLE WITH BUONO AND OPEN CRITICISM OF HIS BOSS, FORMER PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR KENNETH VAN PRAAG.

Van Praag retired after PLAINTIFF's OUSTER and Abernethy was appointed as Van Praag's replacement.

With just a gesture .....

REPUBLICAN New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph "Big Joe the Hammer" Bruno .....

Can have who he considers an "enemy" of himself .....

Like the PLAINTIFF herein ....

A disabled combat veteran .....

Crushed .....

Like an empty Coors beer can ......

WITH COMPLETE IMPUNITY ....

Laws to the contrary be damned .....

And with a "law" .....

"Big Joe" .....

Can reward .....

Those he considers his "friends" .....

And so ....

"Pay boost for twice-fired official - Bruno pushes bill to raise pension for a former business associate"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, July 21, 2006

ALBANY -- Sen. Joseph Bruno is seeking a law to give a former business associate with a dishonorable public career thousands of dollars in extra pension benefits.

The bill would add almost four years of extra state service time to boost the retirement payout to Peter A. Chiefari, 60, a longtime Rensselaer County resident who now appears to be living most of the year in Dunedin, Fla.

If Bruno's bill becomes law, Chiefari's pension would rise to $59,925 a year from $54,272.

Chiefari, who has held various private and public jobs, was fired by two state agencies during his service in the Pataki administration and forced into retirement in 2005.

He was terminated by the state Division of Military & Naval Affairs in 1996 for disobeying Gov. George Pataki's policies, according to people who worked for the administration at the time.

He got a second chance with the state when the Department of Labor hired him in January 1997.

In January 2000, he was fired for using state resources and much of his work time on his private affairs.

The Inspector General's Office audited his phone records and found hundreds of minutes of calls to the town of Schodack, with which he was doing private business, and to a real estate office for which he once worked -- Baer Reality, run by Kenneth Baer, Bruno's appointee on the state lobbying commission.

He had lied about his business relationships, inspector general's investigators said.

He got hired a third time by the state in January 2001.

Despite Pataki's hiring freeze, the DOT hired Chiefari after he got on a Civil Service list and the department was allowed to add engineers for road safety.

He started at $40,000, but his pay rose to $70,000.

At the Labor Department, where he had served as the assistant director of safety and health, he was paid $99,973 a year.

Then, although he officially retired from public service in 2000 by arranging to qualify himself for a special early retirement package passed by the Legislature, he retired a second time in 2005 when he was under investigation again.

That final state retirement came as the state Inspector General's Office was questioning him for taking the DOT job in 2001 and lying when he applied about never being fired.

The inspector general referred the case to State Police, who declined to proceed with a criminal investigation.

Chiefari also served as the private engineer on the First Grafton Corp. real estate development project that Bruno and partners invested in during the 1990s.

Chiefari was fined and suspended from practice in 1996 by the state Education Department for actions he took to propel the project to build homes along an isolated lake in the Rensselaer County town of Grafton.

Suspension of his engineering license was stayed in exchange for a one-year probation sentence.

Chiefari admitted submitting a state environmental form with inaccurate information, SED records show.

As priority bills were being rushed to print in the final scheduled week of this year's legislative session, the Bruno-led Senate Committee on Rules introduced a special retirement bill June 19 that would benefit only Chiefari.

It claims he is owed 3.66 additional years of service time that would cost the state $49,000 in payments to the State and Local Employees' Retirement System, administered by the state comptroller's office.

The bill text says Chiefari served public employers for more than 24 years and already has accumulated 29.22 years of service time for pension purposes but was denied time for service between 2001 and 2005 -- the years he worked as a civil engineer for DOT.

It says he was misled by retirement system officials that the years would be granted him after he returned to state service following his move to take an early retirement deal in 2000.

Chiefari did not return a call left with his wife, Lois Phillips, the longtime town of Schodack attorney, at his Florida address.

Bruno's spokesman, Matthew Walter, said the bill for Chiefari is no more than a routine piece of legislation advanced for a person desiring his full pension benefit.

Hundreds of such bills are introduced, Walter said.

Typically, he said, senators try to resolve such disputes at the agency and comptroller levels before seeking a law.

He said Bruno sought the bill after Chiefari, a constituent, asked for help.

Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for the comptroller's office, agreed many such laws are proposed, but few are passed.

He said Bruno's bill seeks to create "new law" for Chiefari.

After getting fired by the state, Chiefari worked 16 days during 2000 for the town of Nassau to qualify for an early retirement incentive offered to public workers under a bill signed into law by Pataki, Gordon said.

That law allowed Chiefari to retire with 2.25 extra years of service time tacked onto his pension benefit, Gordon said.

But that incentive time and the pension were taken away retroactive to 2000 when he returned to the state in 2001.

Bruno's bill would get Chiefari back the 2.25 years plus other adjustments that cut his pension under the rules of the 2000 incentive deal.

His pension now is actually $150 a year less than when he originally retired in 2000, Gordon said.

Well, this afternoon, we had an interesting thing pointed out to us, as we were reviewing the papers that were sent to us yesterday by the two lawyers, and that is that Rensselaer County has apparently picked up the legal coverage, which is to say, legal bills, for not only Carl Richard Aiken, the New York State licensed professional engineer involved as a defendant in this matter, who was the engineer-of-record for the developer Jeffrey Pelletier, who assaulted the PLAINTIFF in this matter in August of 2001, just before the August 22, 2001 PSYCHIATRIC TAKE-DOWN went down; but for Kevin Joseph McGrath, the New York State licensed land surveyor, as well, who was at the same time, the Poestenkill Town Planning Board Chairman, and the "design consultant" for Jeffrey Pelletier, the developer, who had his subdivision plans in front of the Poestenkill Planning Board for approval, where McGrath was Chairman.

And Aiken, while the engineer for Pelletier, was also signing off on plans for the Rensselaer County Department of Health, as well, which means that when you want to get an approval from either agency, you hire the Planning Board Chairman to do your plans for you, and you hire the health department engineer to do your plans for you, and of course, it is a blatant conflict of interest, but who cares, and more to the point, who is going to say a word about it, when saying a word is going to get you tossed into a secure mental facility down in Troy, New York?

And there is the point, to us, anyway, who are excluded from protection of law by this arrangement.

It is a "good-enough-for-them" scenario, where the person taking money from the developer then gets to say what is good enough for the adjoining property owners, and in this case, what is good enough for us is that Pelletier gets to put his sewage into OUR creek, and that is good enough for us, as the creek don't mean that much to Pelletier, and he shouldn't be prevented from making money, just because the creek means something to us, along with OUR drinking water, which, being down-gradient from Pelletier, would be impacted, while his would not be!

"**** on you", goes the saying, here In Rensselaer County, anyway, and to prove how serious they are to the "development community", Rensselaer County is making the demonstration by having its lawyer, Tom O'Connor, do the legal work for Pelletier's "design professionals", as well as for its own alleged co-conspirators, and we county taxpayers get to pay the freight, since his legal bills to the county are paid with money lifted out of OUR pockets by that same entity through OUR property taxes, which are supposed to be buying us public health protection, but buy us nothing, instead.

Quite a deal if you're a land developer, and quite a screwing if you are a property owner, on the other side of the equation, which is the one that pays, and gets nothing in return for that expenditure of OUR hard-earned money on county property taxes!

"Probe of school 'payroll padding' widens - Investigation of districts that listed lawyers as staff hits Capital Region"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, April 11, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed 90 lawyers, including 70 in upstate, in his expanding probe of school districts that improperly, and perhaps fraudulently, listed their outside legal advisers as employees to give them taxpayer-funded pensions.

"It is egregious conduct, and there is no excuse for the fact that it went on as long as it did," Cuomo said Thursday.

He added that the investigation, which started on Long Island about two months ago, is now spreading to school districts in Albany County and the greater Capital Region.

So far, more than 180 New York school districts, including 150 upstate and 30 on Long Island, are suspected of listing their outside attorneys as employees for the sake of benefits.

He also said he is looking at 11 BOCES organizations across the state.

"This is basically a payroll padding scheme," said Cuomo, who didn't name the districts or BOCES being subpoenaed.

If attorneys are found to have improperly been listed as employees and are collecting pensions, Cuomo said his office could seek to recoup the money.

Criminal penalties could also follow.

The probe began in February after a Long Island lawyer, Lawrence W. Reich, who had once worked for the state Education Department, was found to be listed as an employee at five different school districts, giving him a pension of almost $62,000 and health benefits.

Since then, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has said Reich should refund the money.

The IRS and FBI also have begun investigating, according to published reports.

The attorney general's office earlier said the abuses could extend to other school district advisers such as engineers or architects.

To be considered an employee, a person needs to meet certain conditions, such as having an office or assigned workplace, direct supervision and a regular work schedule.

Lawyers who work for law firms but advise school districts usually have none of those.

Millions of dollars could be involved, Cuomo said.

He cited one lawyer who collected more than $700,000 and said another person who collected a pension had died.

"It's a great scam that has gone on for many, many years," Cuomo said.

Cuomo's inquiry has so far hit 20 upstate counties including Albany, Broome, Delaware, Erie, Madison and Monroe.

Several school and BOCES officials in the Capital Region who were contacted said they hadn't listed their outside lawyers as employees.

School officials in Schenectady said the district's lawyer, Shari Greenleaf, was a full-timer who didn't work at an outside firm.

"It's strictly retainer-based," said Matt Leon, spokesman for Bethlehem school district.

The same was true of the Albany district, which spokesman Ron Lesko said retains the Girvin & Ferlazzo firm.

Albany, Bethlehem and Troy also use Girvin & Ferlazzo for legal advice.

Still, Cuomo is seeking information from Girvin & Ferlazzo.

"The New York State Attorney General's office has sought information relating to our firm's relationship with school districts and BOCES."

"We have been cooperating and will continue to cooperate with the inquiry," Girvin & Ferlazzo lawyer Jeff Honeywell said in a prepared statement.

Attorneys at Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna, another Albany firm that advises about 15 districts, are independent contractors, said Beth Bourassa, a lawyer at the firm.

"We are not employees of any of our school district clients," she said.

Representatives of the Capital Region's three BOCES said they didn't believe their lawyers were listed as employees.

"We essentially have an informal clearance from him right now," John Stoothof, superintendent of Washington- Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES, said of DiNapoli.

Cuomo said the pension padding could also extend to other government entities, of which there are about 10,000 in the state including villages, towns and special districts.

"The more we dig, the worse the situation gets," he said.

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Probe of school 'payroll padding' widens - Investigation of districts that listed lawyers as staff hits Capital Region"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, April 11, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed 90 lawyers, including 70 in upstate, in his expanding probe of school districts that improperly, and perhaps fraudulently, listed their outside legal advisers as employees to give them taxpayer-funded pensions.

"It is egregious conduct, and there is no excuse for the fact that it went on as long as it did," Cuomo said Thursday.

"This is basically a payroll padding scheme," said Cuomo, who didn't name the districts or BOCES being subpoenaed.

The attorney general's office earlier said the abuses could extend to other school district advisers such as engineers or architects.

Millions of dollars could be involved, Cuomo said.

He cited one lawyer who collected more than $700,000 and said another person who collected a pension had died.

"It's a great scam that has gone on for many, many years," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the pension padding could also extend to other government entities, of which there are about 10,000 in the state including villages, towns and special districts.

"The more we dig, the worse the situation gets," he said.

"Cuomo widens pension probe - Attorney general plans to target municipal governments that gave lawyers taxpayer-funded benefits"

By JAY JOCHNOWITZ and RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, April 15, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is poised to announce today that he is broadening his probe into alleged abuses of the state pension fund to include not just school districts, but towns and villages as well.

Cuomo already was looking into how some school districts have put outside contractors, particularly lawyers, into the state retirement system.

That's allowed some attorneys to rack up significant retirement credits, which Cuomo said could be illegal because, in his estimation, these outside lawyers aren't employees.

Now, Cuomo is turning his attention to local governments, which, like many school districts, also use lawyers on a retainer or contract basis.

One of the lawyers who benefited from that system, James Roemer, accrued a taxpayer-funded pension worth more than $80,000 a year working for various cities, towns, counties and villages in the Capital Region, in addition to being in private practice.

Roemer, according to a person familiar with Cuomo's investigation, is among the dozens of lawyers who has been subpoenaed.

The Albany-based Roemer also represents several school district attorneys who have been named in Cuomo's investigation.

Roemer, who wouldn't comment Monday, was the subject of a 1997 Times Union article outlining how he acquired his pension credits.

At the time, then-state Comptroller Carl McCall said the deal was bothersome but not illegal as far as he could see.

Cuomo last week said he has subpoenaed 90 lawyers, 70 of them from upstate, in the school district probe.

The attorney general is also looking at more than 180 school districts, including 150 upstate and 30 on Long Island, as well as 11 BOCES organizations, that may have put their outside attorneys in the pension system.

[Livyjr]

"Cuomo expanding pension fraud probe to all local governments"

Associated Press

Last updated: 2:22 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says he's expanding an ongoing pension fraud probe to include all local governments across the state and all types of professional consultants.

The investigation started with findings that some Long Island school districts were listing outside lawyers as employees, allowing them to qualify for public pensions while their private practices collected millions of dollars in legal fees.

Now Cuomo is seeking information from more than 4,000 of the state's county governments, villages, towns, and special districts about their employment arrangements.

[Livyjr]

"STATE PROBERS SUPPORT MANY PLANTE CHARGES"

By Greg B. Smith and Tim O-Brien, Staff writers, Albany, New York Times Union

17 March 1989

The Rensselaer County Health Department did not follow laws governing building development on numerous subdivisions throughout the county, allowing developers to sell lots without proper environmental approval, a state Health Department investigation has found.

The investigation backs up many of the charges made by Paul Plante, the suspended county environmental health director.

The county is holding hearings this week to try to fire Plante.

The inquiry also raises questions about the county's ability to enforce laws designed to encourage environmentally sound home-building in a county that has experienced rapid growth in the last few years.

The report focuses on the fact that county environmental health officials must review all construction to ensure developers meet strict regulations to prevent development from encroaching on the environment.

According to the source familiar with the report, investigators found numerous instances in which state and county laws were not followed and county officials did not take action on apparent violations.

The report also found:

- Several other cases since 1984 in which developers sold property that hadn't been county approved.

The properties included lots in Dutch Acres, North Greenbush, the Holser Subdivision in Poestenkill and Winfield Estates in Brunswick.

State Sen. Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, is a partner in Winfield.

And I guess what I find the most interesting about any of this is that in a nation that alleges to the rest of the world that it is a "nation of laws", we need a FORUM like this one to talk about HOW IT IS NOT one at all, at least up here where I am!

In fact, judging by what has gone on up here over the last twenty years that I can personally document, this concept of the "rule is law" in America is a farce, a complete and total farce!

And here, all I need do to support that statement is go back to the exhibits annexed to the original complaint in this matter, and take a look at, say, Exhibit E, which is an October 9, 1990 letter from an Assistant Rensselaer County District Attorney to the Court of the Town of North Greenbush, here in Rensselaer County in the State of New York, concerning the PLAINTIFF in this matter, in the days, weeks and months following this FBI Report that we have been reading from above, here.

This October 9, 1990 letter reads in relevant part as follows:

"Enclosed herewith, please find a copy of the People's Notice of Appeal from a dismissal in the North Greenbush Town Court on Tuesday, October 2, 1990."

"Mr. Jones contacted this office and requested this course of action."

"By way of judicial economy, I hereby move to reargue the Motion to Dismiss in order to afford the People an opportunity to be heard on this matter."

"The complainant in this case feels that there has been an injustice, and has sought the assistance of this office."

"We have agreed to accept the responsibility to represent the People in this case."

"My understanding of the events which took place in your court on October 2, 1990 clearly demonstrate that Mr. Jones is not familiar with the criminal justice system!"

"Mrs. Jones, while her actions were, without a doubt, inappropriate and arguably contemptuous, I do not believe such actions warrant or give rise to a dismissal."

"Furthermore, as PLAINTIFF'S familiarity with the law has been demonstrated in another action pending in your court, I sincerely believe adequate representation of the People's position should be provided by this office!"

As I read through the voluminous record in this matter, I think this statement right above here by the Assistant Rensselaer County District Attorney to this North Greenbush Town Court Justice on October 9, 1990, really sums up the matter for all of us as to the "sides" in this "fray", after the "line in the sand" was drawn on January 1, 1988, when the amended New York State Public Health Law came into effect requiring equal protection of law for all people in counties in the State of New York with County Health Departments receiving state funding.

What the District Attorney's Office is really saying, and you don't have to look between any of the lines to find this, or be any kind of rocket scientist, or constitutional scholar, is that WE HAVE IN RENSSELAER COUNTY a man, a professional engineer, who actually is a professional at his duties, and this person does know the law, as a professional engineer of his level is supposed to, and well, WE JUST CANNOT HAVE THAT up here in Rensselaer County, BECAUSE THESE ARE THE KIND OF PEOPLE, like that pest Teddy Roosevelt, who are a real threat to the graft and corruption that fuels the economy in the State of New York, at the expense of the honest folks out there who are, after all, just "hosts" for the parasites and bloodsuckers to "feast" upon, with all the "protection" that the "machinery" of "law" can provide for them!

Which is plenty!

This person, this engineer who "knew the law", and was able to demonstrate that "familarity" in a court of law to successfully combat a literal slew of false criminal charges made against him by "professional false witnesses" such as the Jones, after he made the mistake of bringing the FBI to town to "snoop around"; well, people like him, who are not of the "PEOPLE", they JUST HAVE TO BE "PUT DOWN", and put down hard, by the "state" itself, or the "PEOPLE", as this Assistant District Attorney likes to say, so that the grafters could continue to know that when they paid a bribe for something from the "modern state", like a DEC solid waste facility permit, or a health department subdivision approval, or maybe a state DEC mining permit; that they would indeed be getting what they paid for, without some pesky "citizen activist" mucking up the works by challenging the "deal" in an Article 78 proceeding in state Supreme Court, or God forbid, bringing the largely useless FBI back to town to look around, once again!

As this case has demonstrated to us MUTE WITNESSES, the "PEOPLE" in the State of New York want corrupt public officials, and so, anyone who knows the law and is not corrupt is a threat!

Plain and simple!

SO!

In order to protect the "PEOPLE", it is necessary for the courts of the "state" to remove any and all Constitutional protections from these "threats", who themselves are "outcast" from the "PEOPLE" because they adhere to the law, and not the "BOSSES".

And that is that!

SO!

The eternal question!

Which side are YOU on?

"State: North Greenbush ignored overruns"

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 2:36 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, 2008

NORTH GREENBUSH -- A new state comptroller's audit slams the town government for providing little oversight on a water district project that is expected to be more than $800,000 over budget.

The audit, released Tuesday by the state Comptroller division of local government and school accountability, said costs on the $7.1 million project to bring water to District 14 began to exceed what was approved in 2005, but the costs were never conveyed to the Town Board, nor did the Town Board inquire about project updates.

From the beginning of the water project in 2003, town officials didn't properly plan and manage the construction project and there was little if any coordination between the Board, town comptroller's office or the building department in monitoring the project's budget, the audit states.

"Unfortunately, this project was mismanaged almost from the beginning,'' state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in a written statement.

Costs began to stretch past the $7.1 million mark when there was additional rock excavation, difficulties in obtaining property easements and a wetter than normal season that required additional backfill.

The additional costs were allegedly discussed with the former town comptroller in 2005, but there was no indiciation the Town Board was ever advised or approved the additional costs.

The changeover that resulted from a new supervisor, several town board members and a new comptroller in January 2006, in addition to the resignation of the comptroller in September 2006, made town officials unsure of their legal duties and responsibilities over authorizing expenditures, the audit says.

[Livyjr]

Ah ....

Life in the CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK .....

Wherever you look ....

INCOMPETENCE, INEPTNESS AND CORRUPT OR QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES GREET YOU ....

And so .....

Young people leave this state ....

Hopefully to find another state in this UNION of OURS .....

With more integrity .....

And competence ....

In its governing bodies ....

And so .....

"Board tries to nullify $82,000 check - Council says supervisor had no authority to make water project payment"

By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, January 31, 2007

NORTH GREENBUSH -- The Town Board majority has voted to rescind a check for about $82,000 for water district work, alleging the town supervisor improperly dispensed it to a contractor without getting board approval.

Supervisor Mark Evers, though, said the issue is a political attack on him for problems with a huge water project that began before he took office.

On Dec. 15, Evers had a town employee write a check for $82,333.92 to pay Casale Excavation for work the company is doing to finish Water District 14.

The disbursement was made a day after a Town Board meeting when one of the routine matters was to approve a list of payments -- called an abstract -- to be made by the town.

The entry was not on the list reviewed by elected officials that night, it was later determined.

New York state law requires that a voucher be shown to the Town Board before payments are made, officials have said.

If the expenditure was on the abstract, the majority would have denied payment.

"We wish to make it clear that had the payment been included in the abstract, we would have voted to remove the payment upon the advice of the town attorney," majority Democrat Richard Fennelly said in a prepared statement.

Last fall, elected officials aired concerns that the $6.4 million project, the largest water district in town, had racked up about $600,000 in cost overruns, a figure now that could be closer to $800,000.

Fennelly said the town attorney, Josh Sabo, has repeatedly told the board it should not approve any more payments exceeding the approved $6.4 million contract because it would not be lawful without a public hearing, authorization by the Town Board and approval by the state comptrollers office.

Evers said the reasons for cost overruns were items on the project estimates that had to be changed.

In some cases, more pipe had to be laid because expected easements for shorter routes did not pan out.

Original estimates on how much rock crews needed to cut through along pipelines was low, as well, Evers said.

The board majority has called for an investigation by the state comptroller's office into the check as well as the cost overruns of the water project.

"Town ready to open books in state audit - North Greenbush's troubled water project is set for scrutiny"

By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, February 1, 2007

NORTH GREENBUSH -- State auditors will be at Town Hall today to begin a months-long comprehensive probe into town spending on capital projects, including expenditures for the controversial Water District 14.

An auditor will start the process of reviewing records and interviewing town officials this morning regarding spending on capital projects, said Jennifer Freeman, spokeswoman for the comptroller.

The review is expected to take six months to a year, she said.

The Town Board majority Democrats voted in January to ask the state to perform an audit because of the growing cost of finishing Water District 14, which will serve nearly half of the town.

The original contract approved by voters for building the water district was $6.4 million, but the town has spent more than $700,000 over the contract and the job is still not finished.

Some Democrats have implied Conservative Town Supervisor Mark Evers has inappropriately made several payments without board approval to Casale Excavations, the contractor.

The most recent controversy was over a $82,333 check that Evers paid to Casale on Dec. 15 that was not reviewed and approved by the Town Board, which is required under state law.

"Water project $800,000 over budget - State comptroller's audit faults North Greenbush officials' lack of oversight"

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, April 16, 2008

NORTH GREENBUSH -- The town supervisor says greater oversight of capital projects will result from a new state comptroller's audit that slammed town officials for being unaware that a new water district would be $800,000 over budget.

The audit, released Tuesday by the state comptroller's division of local government and school accountability, said costs on the $7.1 million project to bring water to District 14 began to exceed what was approved in 2005, but that the costs were never conveyed to the Town Board and the Town Board did not inquire about project updates.

Final construction costs will likely amount to $7.9 million, according to the audit.

The project is about 99 percent done, said Town Board member Ernest Kern.

However, the town has not released the final payments on the project because of legal matters Kern said he couldn't elaborate on.

Costs increased for additional rock excavation, difficulties in obtaining property easements and a wetter-than-normal season that required additional backfill.

The audit says additional costs were discussed with the former town comptroller in 2005, but there was no indication the Town Board was ever advised of or approved the additional costs.

The audit says there's no indication that the Town Board requested specific budget information about the project until November 2006.

"Unfortunately, this project was mismanaged almost from the beginning," state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a written statement.

From the beginning of the water project in 2003, town officials didn't properly plan and manage the construction project and there was little if any coordination among the board, town comptroller's office and the building department in monitoring the project's budget, the audit states.

A 2006 leadership changeover left town officials unsure of their legal duties and responsibilities over authorizing expenditures, the audit says.

In January of that year, a new supervisor, several Town Board members and a new comptroller took office.

The comptroller resigned in September 2006, and a successor was not appointed until March 2007.

"We were all brand-new at the time," said Kern, who was elected in November 2005 after being a vocal supporter of the water district.

However, "I can't say we aren't at fault for not asking."

A response letter from Supervisor Mark Evers, who was elected in November 2005, was attached to the audit.

Evers agreed in his letter that changes in administration caused problems.

He says the town will establish a utilities committee to review projects monthly and appoint a project coordinator to report each month to the Town Board.

Evers could not be reached Tuesday for further comment about the audit.

Lauren Stanforth can be reached at 454-5697 or by e-mail at lstanforth@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Probe of school 'payroll padding' widens - Investigation of districts that listed lawyers as staff hits Capital Region"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, April 11, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed 90 lawyers, including 70 in upstate, in his expanding probe of school districts that improperly, and perhaps fraudulently, listed their outside legal advisers as employees to give them taxpayer-funded pensions.

"It is egregious conduct, and there is no excuse for the fact that it went on as long as it did," Cuomo said Thursday.

He added that the investigation, which started on Long Island about two months ago, is now spreading to school districts in Albany County and the greater Capital Region.

So far, more than 180 New York school districts, including 150 upstate and 30 on Long Island, are suspected of listing their outside attorneys as employees for the sake of benefits.

"This is basically a payroll padding scheme," said Cuomo, who didn't name the districts or BOCES being subpoenaed.

Cuomo said the pension padding could also extend to other government entities, of which there are about 10,000 in the state including villages, towns and special districts.

"The more we dig, the worse the situation gets," he said.

"Attorneys' retirement benefits revoked in NY pension probe - New York revokes attorneys' retirement benefits amid fraud probe in school district employment"

By VALERIE BAUMAN, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:02 p.m., Thursday, April 17, 2008

ALBANY -- New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office is kicking four attorneys' out of the New York state and local retirement system because an upstate BOCES district inappropriately classified them as employees.

The move is part of a broader investigation by DiNapoli and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that started with findings some Long Island school districts were listing lawyers as employees.

They were allowed to qualify for public pensions while their private practices collected millions of dollars in legal fees.

"We are reviewing every lawyer in our system," DiNapoli said.

"We will revoke memberships for those individuals who have been erroneously classified as employees."

Officials in the comptroller's office said they didn't know if the lawyers were aware they were getting inappropriate benefits.

It was unclear if they would face criminal charges.

Cuomo said the attorneys, who all work for the Law Offices of Girvin & Ferlazzo, P.C., are part of an ongoing investigation into the issue.

"I think the law is very clear on this area," Cuomo said.

"The law between being an independent contractor and an employee is a highly defined, litigated area of law, because it comes up all the time."

DiNapoli said his office also revoked five years of service credit for another lawyer the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES incorrectly reported as an employee.

The four attorneys whose benefits were revoked are James Girvin, Kathy Ann Wolverton, Kristine Lanchantin and Jeffrey Honeywell.

Service credit from BOCES for the fifth attorney, Salvatore Ferlazzo, was revoked.

In fiscal year 2006-07, BOCES paid the five lawyers a total of $234,000.

That year, Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES reported them as full-time who worked a total of 1,157 days at BOCES.

They actually worked a total of 196 days, according to the comptroller's office.

A call to the Law Offices of Girvin & Ferlazzo, P.C. was not immediately returned.

BOCES has removed the lawyers from its payroll and fired the law firm.

DiNapoli said his office will return retirement contributions that local governments paid for the lawyers.

"We are finding these scams and we're exposing them," Cuomo said.

"We're investigating them, and that sends a message across the board that says 'Don't even think about ripping off New York.'"

[Livyjr]

And for anyone just joining in here, who is wondering at what is going on, we are talking about a NOTICE OF DECISION issued by newly-appointed BUSH CONSERVATIVE Federal District Court Judge Gary L. Sharpe in the Northern District of New York on March 31, 2005 that has as its practical effect, two things:

a) The ruling creates a "class" of people in the Northern District of New York WHO ARE IMMUNE from the operation of the state laws of the State of New York, on them, the PRIVILEGED CLASS; and

b) The ruling creates a second "class" of persons, the OUTCAST CLASS, in the Northern District of New York who are OUTSIDE THE PROTECTION of the state and federal law in the Northern District of New York, which is us, the citizens who are writing this thread as OUR epitaph, or more properly, the epitaph of OUR rights under the laws and Constitutions of the United States, where we are all natural born citizens, and the State of New York, where we all reside.

Simply stated, on August 22, 2001, "8-22", as we call it up here, a doctor in the City of Troy, New York, on alleged demand from REPUBLICAN politicians in the Town of Poestenkill, and the County of Rensselaer in the State of New York, and allegedly for payment, made out a completely fraudulent mental health involuntary commitment order for the PLAINTIFF in this matter, a New York State licensed professional engineer, and associate level public health engineer, and that commitment order (1) caused the PLAINTIFF to be incarcerated as a dangerous mental patient, and (2) has left him now "BRANDED" as a dangerous mental patient, so that his services as an "expert witness" on engineering matters and enforcement of the provisions of the New York State Public Health Law and Education Law as it pertains to professional practice of engineers in the State of New York are no longer available to us, the citizens of New York State who reside in the County of Rensselaer in the State of New York.

What makes this March 31, 2005 FEDERAL Notice of Decision particularly odious to us, and shocking to OUR sense of "fair play", as well, is the latitude and "discretion" that it appears to give to New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to be able to "remove" at will at any time, BASED ON NOTHING, and through the "vehicle" of the blatantly unlawful and illegal "PSYCHIATRIC TAKE-DOWN", any other professional engineers, who like this one, decide to take on the representation of citizens like us in matters involving corruption in state agencies such as the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

At a time when he is allegedly "TAKING MONEY" from the housing "industry" in the State of New York, Attorney General Spitzer has allegedly "engineered" the "removal" of an expert witness AGAINST the housing "industry" THROUGH UNLAWFUL AND FRAUDULENT MEANS, and Federal Court for the Northern District of New York appears to have just turned a blind eye to that as "politics as usual", with the "BRANDING" of OUR expert witness by Eliot Spitzer, allegedly on behalf of the "housing industry", from who he is allegedly "taking money", according to public newpspaer accounts in our area.

So far as we are able to discern, this FRAUDULENT CERTIFICATION of our expert as an alleged "DANGEROUS MENTAL PATIENT" by this POLITICAL doctor in Troy has now been filed in various computer systems, including those used by the New York State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so that this individual now has been put into a class of people that are "suspect", always, such a convicted child molestors, rapists, etc.

Obviously, besides destroying this person's life, and everything that this person worked to achieve in life in terms of professional credibility, this "BRANDING", along with this JUDICIAL IMPRIMATUR on this fraud renders this person absolutely worthless as an expert witness, especially against the State of New York, which is always defended in court by the New York State Attorney General, which is Eliot Spitzer.

According to this March 31, 2005 Federal Court decision that we are discussing in here, IF our witness were to try and give testimony in a court of law against the state on behalf of citizens harmed by corrupt actions of the state, he would have to "disclose" this BOGUS "FACT" that he had this psychiatric commitment order issued against him, which then would immediately destroy his credibility in any such proceeding, and with disastrous consequences for all involved, EXCEPT ELIOT SPITZER, of course, and the State of New York, and the housing "industry", who have allegedly been giving money to Eliot Spitzer for "undisclosed services rendered"!

As for us, we are a group of people relatively small in number, and of modest means, as many are elderly, and had hoped to live out their lives in some degree of security, within the law, and we are without clout, and so WE ARE LOSERS in the eyes of the rich, famous and powerful, here in America, and we must finally admit that, to ourselves, first, and then, to the candid world, especially in the light of this shocking loss, which has left us bereft and without hope for the first time in over twenty years of continuous struggle against the forces of corruption in the State of New York.

Hence this thread!

Thank you for your interest!

AND SPEAKING OF CONTINUING FRAUD IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK INVOLVING THE MEDICAL "PROFESSION" ...

We have ...

"Crackdown on NY home care providers moves upstate - Subpoenas issued in Medicaid fraud probe involving home care in upstate New York"

By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:52 p.m., Thursday, April 17, 2008

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Twenty-seven upstate home health care agencies face questions from the state about aides who provide services paid for by Medicaid.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said a round of subpoenas sent by his office this week are part of a widening Medicaid probe that began with reports of fraud downstate last year.

The investigation has so far led to charges against more than 80 patients, aides, nurses, instructors and administrators of home health agencies, 50 convictions and judgments to pay more than $14 million in restitution, the attorney general said.

"We had nurses who never showed up, we had nurses who showed up and abused the patient."

"We have cases of nurses who overbill to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars," Cuomo said during a news conference in his Buffalo office.

"Older New Yorkers overwhelmingly prefer to receive long-term care services for themselves or a family member through home care and community-based services rather than institutional care," said Lois Aronstein, the director of AARP in New York.

The result is an expanding industry in need of more thorough oversight, Cuomo said.

More than 150,000 New Yorkers receive Medicaid-funded home health services monthly.

The bill to taxpayers in 2007 was $3.8 billion, he said.

"The concept is right," Cuomo said.

"We want to clean up the fraud."

The investigation targets not only the aides who provide the services, but the agencies that hire, train and contract them out.

The president of the Home Care Association of New York supported the effort to prosecute those who undermine the system but cautioned against allowing a "broad-brush approach" to impair those trying to deliver quality care.

"Providers of quality home care services have an equal, if not greater, stake in curbing fraud and abuse," HCA President Joanne Cunningham said, "because the misdeeds of a few rogue individuals have the potential to tarnish the entire home care community."

Cuomo pointed to the arrest of an employment recruiter for an in-home health care training company in Buffalo for selling falsified personal care aide certificates.

Melody McKnight pleaded guilty to forgery and bribery charges.

In a Rochester case, nurse Adrian Clements admitted filing reimbursement claims for services that she did not provide, receiving $70,785 from the Medicaid program.

She was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to repay the money.

Other recent cases have exposed aides working without proper training, no-show aides who split their payments with complicit patients and aides billing multiple agencies for 36 hours in a single day.

Of the subpoenas issued this week, 15 went to Syracuse-area agencies, while agencies in Buffalo and Rochester received seven and five, respectively.

Cuomo said the targeted companies are not accused of wrongdoing, but that investigation has warranted giving them a closer look.

Cuomo is also pushing for a statewide registry of certified home health aides as a way to better oversee the industry.

[Livyjr]

In a just-released March 31, 2005 Decision of Federal Court for the Northern District of New York, with grave consequences to the common citizen in the Northern District of New York who must have the certification of an expert witness in order to file certain Petitions for Redress of Grievance in the Courts of the State of New York, where negligence or malfeasance by the state or one of its political subdivisions is alleged, a recently-appointed Federal District Court Judge has refused to grant injunctive relief to the Plaintiff therein, a New York State licensed professional engineer and certified associate public health engineer, that would have given him protection of law in the State of New York while giving testimony in court ON BEHALF OF the citizens of the State of New York, against the State of New York, or one of its political subdivisions.

The issue before the Court in that matter, Case No. 1:03-CV-753, Matter of Plante, P.E. v. State of New York et al., requiring injunctive relief from the Federal District Court is a retaliatory practice in the Northern District of New York employed against an expert witness against the State of New York, BY THE STATE, where it simply removes the expert witness, as a witness against itself, by the expedient of having one of its doctors issue a signed declaration, SIGHT UNSEEN, that the witness in fact is an alleged dangerous mental patient who requires immediate incarceration in a secure mental health facility in the State of New York!

That order, known as a "9.45", then goes to the New York State Police, who capture the person, the intended victim, as it were, and take him to a designated secure mental health facility, for incarceration!

The "PSYCHIATRIC TAKEDOWN", it is called, and it is illegal, in that a doctor in the State of New York, BY FEDERAL and STATE LAW, both, cannot issue one of these orders IF he has never even seen the person, let alone examined him or her in person, as happened in this just-dismissed case involving this expert witness on behalf of the people of the State of New York, where the state's doctor issued a fraudulent "9.45" order for this expert witness, SIGHT UNSEEN, just days before this expert witness was going to file an affidavit on behalf of the citizens of Rensselaer County documenting continuing corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health having an adverse impact on the public health, safety, and well-being in the Town of Poestenkill, County of Rensselaer, State of New York!

In this case at bar, which was dismissed Sua Sponte by Bush-appointee Hon. Gary L. Sharpe on March 31, 2005, an illegal "9.45" order was issued against the Plaintiff on August 22, 2001, to intimidate and deter the Plaintiff from giving further evidence of corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health in a court of law!

Before the Federal District Court in support of a Motion for Injunctive Relief against the State of New York, the County of Rensselaer and the Town of Poestenkill in this matter was a July 13, 2004 letter from Rensselaer County Criminal Court Justice Patrick J. McGrath, wherein Justice McGrath, the chief criminal court judge in the County of Rensselaer, informed Federal Court Justice Sharpe that he, McGrath, had reviewed the evidence in the case as Rensselaer County's chief criminal court justice, and that he was concerned because that evidence supported a conclusion of violation of federal and state criminal codes, in addition to the civil charges contained in the Complaint in the matter.

Among the evidence which Judge McGrath relied upon in forming his conclusion of violation of federal and state criminal codes was a graphic video tape wherein one of the defendants can be seen physically assaulting and threatening the Plaintiff, and causing him bodily harm, to deter him from performing the duties of a licensed professional engineer in the State of New York, and a March 16, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation which is at the very heart of this matter of OUR right to dissent, and to petition for redress of grievance, which apparently has just been stripped from us common citizens in the Northern District of New York by Bush-appointee Sharpe on March 31, 2005.

In that March 16, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which was before Judge Sharpe in the Plaintiff's Motion for Injunctive Relief as Exhibit J, a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, based upon a review of substantial evidence, concluded:

"According to [name deleted], the results of the State's investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little 'enforcement activity' even in the face of illegal sales."

"According to [name deleted], the object of any county health department (in the state of New York) is to protect the public, and not to facilitate developers, or development."

"In the case of Rensselaer County, it appears that the Rensselaer County Health Department was in business to facilitate developers and development rather than to protect the public!"

It was that last statement by this F.B.I. Special Agent in March of 1989 that set in motion the very chain of causality which has brought us up to this present moment in time in the Northern District of New York, where this Sua Sponte Dismissal of this Federal Civil Rights lawsuit and Plaintiff's Motion for Injunctive Relief by Federal District Court on March 31, 2005, now seriously jeopardizes the rights of all citizens in the Northern District of New York by removing from them the services of the licensed professional engineer whose expert witness testimony they would need to file a Petition for Redress of Grievance with the courts of the State of New York alleging a continuation of this same negligence by the State of New York and Rensselaer County Department of Health to this day.

The apparent condoning of this alleged illegal activity by the State of New York, and its political subdivisions, the County of Rensselaer, and the Town of Poestenkill, by the Federal District Court for the Northern District of New York as of March 31, 2005 now sends a very chilling message indeed to the residents of the Northern District of New York, to wit: "KEEP YOUR MOUTHS SHUT, OR YOU WILL BE NEXT!"

And when you come right down to it ....

Professor Shanks of the Albany Law School is saying quite a mouthful here ....

When she says that someone with access to a lawyer ....

Can make it IMPOSSIBLE ....

For the other side ...

To ever make it in to a courtroom ....

Let alone ever see justice .....

And here ....

Ms. Shanks is referring to what is known as the "FIXER" ......

The COURTHOUSE fixture that can get things "made gone away" ....

If only one knows how to find and engage the FIXER's services ....

And that was part of the game here ....

And Professor Shank's statements in that regard about access to FIXERS by one side of a dispute making it impossible for the other side "TO BE IN THE GAME" is interesting from the perspective that when the PLAINTIFF first filed this COMPLAINT in federal district court, Albany Law School was one of the places that he appealed to for aid and assistance in connection with developing all of the constitutional issues involved in this matter ....

And Albany Law School turned a deaf ear ....

And so .....

We come forward in time ...

From 1989 .....

To 2002 ....

When once again ....

Jeffrey Pelletier of Poestenkill ....

The assailant in this matter who bragged on videotape before the Court in this matter of being protected .....

And ended up definitely being so in reality ....

Was able to libel PLAINTIFF in sworn court papers ....

With PLAINTIFF once again being afforded no opprtunity to rebut these false and scurrilous assertions made not only by Jeffrey Pelletier ...

But by his LAWYER, as well .....

An alleged COURTHOUSE FIXER from Rensselaer County named Stephen A. Stasack .....

Who also submitted an affidavit to New York State Supreme Court in Rensselaer County ........

Where Stasack allegedly served as a CLERK to one of the judges ....

This AFFIDAVIT by Stasack was dated and sworn to on February 27, 2003 ....

And therein ....

Stasack, an attorney licensed to practice in the State of New York ....

And allegedly subject to the Rules of Practice in the State of New York ...

As well as the Rules of Evidence .....

Openly PROFFERED as EVIDENCE this false instrument unlawfully issued to the New York State Police by John Christian Braaten, M.D. of Northeast Health, Inc. on August 22, 2001 ....

To the New York State Supreme Court Justice in charge of the case, Hon. Joseph Cannizarro .....

As alleged PROOF that PLAINTIFF was supposedly mentally ill and dangerous ....

And so ....

Should not be allowed to bring on any kind of charges against Jeffrey Pelletier in Rensselaer County Supreme Court ...

STATE OF NEW YORK SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF RENSSELAER

PLAINTIFF v. Town of Poestenkill; Eugene Bechard, Poestenkill Town Code Enforcement Officer; The County of Rensselaer; Roy Champagne, Rensselaer County Director of Environmental Health; Carl Richard Aiken, NYSPE 067805; Kevin Joseph McGrath, NYSLS 049508; and Jeff Pelletier

STEPHEN A. STASACK, being duly sworn, deposes and says:

I am the attorney for respondent jeffrey Pelletier and make this affidavit in support of respondent's DEMAND FOR DISMISSAL of the proceedings and in opposition to cross-motions.

The entire petition contains statements made by PLAINTIFF referring to allegations of actions by PLAINTIFF that have led others to TAKE ACTION TO HAVE PLAINTIFF INVOLUNTARILY COMMITTED FOR MENTAL HEALTH EVALUATION.

PLAINTIFF has cross-moved to CONTINUE TO HAVE THOSE PERSONS AS PARTY DEFENDANTS, CLAIMING THEY ARE NECESSARY PARTIES.

PLAINTIFF's pro se action has caused considerable expense to all parties involved.

TO DATE, I have expended approximately 37 hours at an hourly rate of $150.

This is an expense of $5,550 PLUS DISBURSEMENTS, PAYABLE BY PELLETIER - with no end in sight to the volume of papers requiring further time and expense served by PLAINTIFF.

WHEREFORE IT IS REQUESTED ....

THAT THE COURT GRANT AN INJUNCTION ....

BARRING PLAINTIFF ...

FROM COMMENCING ANY FURTHER LITIGATION ....

AGAINST JEFF PELLETIER .....

Sworn to before me this 27th day of February, 2003

"Cuomo's NY pension probe investigates role of BOCES - Cuomo subpoenas BOCES districts in probe of questionable payments for school district lawyers"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 3:12 p.m., Friday, April 18, 2008

ALBANY -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Friday that he is subpoenaing BOCES districts statewide because they may have been complicit in listing part-time lawyers as full-time employees to get additional state tax dollars.

Cuomo is targeting the state's 38 BOCES districts, which operate regional services for a number of public school districts.

Cuomo says the BOCES districts appear to have gained more state school aid by providing health and pension benefits to BOCES attorneys who worked part-time for school districts in addition to their full-time private practices.

"The BOCES may not have had clean hands because it appears there was a financial incentive to BOCES to do it this way and there was also an incentive to the lawyers who could also get the health and pension benefits," Cuomo said.

"I don't accept that people were unclear about the law," he said.

"The law on employee versus independent contractor is well settled."

"It is a highly litigated area, there are IRS regulations that are very specific and it comes up very often."

Cuomo's broader investigation of benefits provided to lawyers by school districts and local governments continues.

BOCES districts were created decades ago to help the then-poorer suburban and rural districts pool resources for vocational education, special education and other programs to avoid costly duplication at each neighboring district.

Cuomo said he wants to reform a practice he said has been going on for years.

"There was a clear financial incentive for the lawyers, there may have been a financial incentive for the BOCES, and the person who was paying for this is the taxpayer," he said.

There was no immediate comment from the state Department of Education , to which the BOCES districts report.

------

On the Net:

http://www.oag.state.ny.us

[Livyjr]

The FBI Report from 2/13/89 then continues:

"There appears to be a lot of public interest in this disciplinary hearing."

end quotes

And was there ever!

What a show it was, and what a show it was yet to be, although at the time that this FBI Special Agent is talking about, February 13, 1989, none of us could have had any inkling at all that one day, TODAY, we would be in here on this internet, talking about this particular "POLITICAL EVENT" in Rensselaer County that was the subject of a news HUB-BUB for over a YEAR, it you can imagine that!

TV coverage from the "BIG CITY" TV stations on a daily basis!

Night after night after night, we would see ourselves on TV, as we sat there in the "audience", in MUTE WITNESS of the proceedings that were going on before OUR eyes, and we watched!

And learned!

Oh, yes, this was "high-stakes" BID-NESS, as a high-ranking SENATOR in the New York State Senate figured prominently in the CHARGES leveled against the individual by Rensselaer County, in retaliation for this person, the PLAINTIFF that we talk about in here, bringing evidence of alleged fraud and corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health as of October 11, 1988 to the attention of then-New York State Health Commissioner, Dr. David Axelrod, and everyone was waiting to see that prominent politician flex his muscles in this case, against Dr. Axelrod, who was himself an appointee of a Democrat, and so without influence in REPUBLICAN Rensselaer County, despite his position as Commissioner of Health in the State of New York!

But ......

I get ahead of myself here ......

And so ...

Please stay tuned for the next installment ........

Up-dated regularly!

"State widens pension probe - BOCES is accused of 'chronic fraud' a day after 4 lawyers were removed from public benefits system"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, April 19, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Friday he is subpoenaing all 37 of the state's BOCES organizations for information on whether they registered private lawyers in the state's public pension system.

Cuomo's announcement came a day after Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli kicked four private attorneys out of the state's pension system for being improperly listed as employees of the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

It was also learned Friday that the public cost for the attorneys may be greater than thought.

A BOCES official said his organization has also been paying a portion of the federal withholding taxes for the lawyers, who as private contractors would normally have paid the full bill.

"We have reason to believe some BOCES may have unclean hands in this situation," Cuomo said Friday in a written statement.

"There appears to be a chronic fraud that has occurred across New York state for many years, and we will work until we get to the bottom of it."

While Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES Superintendent Geoffrey Davis said he doesn't believe his organization committed fraud, he said it listed its lawyers as employees for two decades and no one questioned that arrangement until now.

"That didn't change over 20 years," said Superintendent Geoffrey Davis, who said that starting in 1988, before he came to the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES, lawyers were listed as employees working at 89 percent of full-time status.

"We were doing what had been in place for a very long time," said Davis, who added the individuals who put that system in place are either retired or deceased.

Moreover, he said, no one -- not BOCES' auditing firm, West and Co.; the state Comptroller; or the Education Department, which reimburses some of the legal costs -- had ever questioned the arrangement.

That changed in the past few weeks, when an investigator for DiNapoli asked Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES officials if their lawyers met certain criteria for full-time employment, such as having a set place to work, a supervisor and regular hours.

When they said no, Davis said, BOCES agreed to take the attorneys off its employee list.

The lawyers -- James Girvin, Kathy Ann Wolverton, Kristine Lanchantin and Jeffrey Honeywell -- were then removed from the state retirement system.

Davis said both BOCES and the firm, Girvin & Ferlazzo, agreed to end their relationship.

The firm has declined to comment on the matter.

The Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES has since hired a new firm -- McNamee, Lochner, Titus & Williams -- to represent it in the pension issue.

Pension credits were not the only benefit the lawyers got.

Davis said BOCES also paid part of the lawyers' FICA, or federal payroll taxes, just as any employer would.

Independent contractors, by contrast, must pay all of their own FICA taxes.

Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES paid Girvin & Ferlazzo $234,000 during the 2006-07 fiscal year.

The firm handled labor issues in 20 school districts in the BOCES region, which includes the Johnstown, Gloversville and Amsterdam areas.

Most of the labor issues concerned grievances filed by employees of a district or contract negotiations with unions.

BOCES are educational co-ops.

Member districts buy services that include vocational programs and legal work.

Lawyers from the firm would estimate in advance how much work they would have to do in a given year and set that rate.

DiNapoli listed five lawyers -- Girvin, Wolverton, Lanchantin, Honeywell and Salvatore Ferlazzo -- as doing the $234,000 worth of work.

Ferlazzo lost his pension credits with Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES but may have credits for other work for schools, DiNapoli said.

Davis, however, said other attorneys from the firm also performed some duties.

The trouble with that, said one person familiar with pension issues, was that the five named lawyers could then get pension credits they didn't deserve.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he said he may be approached by the attorney general in a separate case.

Davis said Cuomo's office contacted his office in March, seeking all records of its interactions with the law firm.

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Lawyer claims Sweeney targeted - Arrest, prosecution of ex-congressman's son called political ploy"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, April 22, 2008

ALBANY -- Daniel Wiese, a former State Police security supervisor for Gov. George Pataki, may be called to testify at the trial of a young man who is suing a former congressman's son and two other men over injuries he suffered in a violent brawl four years ago.

E. Stewart Jones, an attorney for John Sweeney Jr., who pleaded guilty to felony assault charges in the case, last week wrote a letter to the court saying he intends to subpoena Wiese if the case goes to trial.

Jones' request cites published reports that Wiese was part of a "renegade unit" in the State Police that engaged in political espionage on behalf of Pataki and others, records show.

Jones accuses Wiese of arranging for Sweeney's arrest as part of a smear campaign targeting his father, John Sweeney, at a time when the elder Sweeney was running for re-election.

Sweeney, a Republican, won re-election in 2004 but lost the November 2006 election to challenger Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Greenport.

"We believe that the Wiese target was his and then Governor Pataki's political enemy, John Sweeney Sr., and that Wiese in discussion with a senior member of the State Police was centrally involved in the focusing of the effort to embarrass the congressman," Jones wrote in a letter to Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Giardino.

The letter, filed in court records in Saratoga County, also accuses Wiese of being "instrumental in the charging, arrest and prosecution of young John Sweeney."

State Police officials familiar with the matter, including an investigator who worked on the case, said neither Wiese, nor anyone on his behalf, tried to influence the investigation.

The controversy surrounds the August 2004 arrest of the younger Sweeney on felony assault charges following a brawl involving several young men.

A grand jury later elevated the charges to gang assault and Sweeney pleaded guilty to felony assault.

Giardino, who also presided in the criminal case, suspended Sweeney's jail sentence and ordered the files sealed in December 2005.

Montgomery County District Attorney James Conboy, who handled the case as a special prosecutor, said the younger Sweeney was indicted by a grand jury that relied almost exclusively on the testimony of witnesses, and not State Police investigators.

"Nobody tried to influence me," Conboy said.

"I put in the grand jury as witnesses every person from whom the State Police took a statement ... whether they were good for the prosecution or bad for the prosecution."

"That's exactly what it was, what they had to tell us good, bad or ugly."

The younger Sweeney was arrested after a brawl over a young woman.

The fight took place along a rural road in Stillwater and involved about 15 young men.

Two other young men, both friends of Sweeney's, also were arrested.

The victim, Matthew Brady of Stillwater, suffered broken bones around one eye and lost teeth, according to his attorney, Terence L. Kindlon.

Brady's suit, which is scheduled to go to trial next month, seeks unspecified damages.

The arrest of his son in a criminal case that languished and spilled over into his 2006 re-election run wasn't Sweeney's only controversy.

Two weeks before the election, news broke of a 911 police call to his house for an alcohol-fueled fight between Sweeney and his wife, Gaia.

The 911 call had been placed by Gaia Sweeney almost a year before the election, but State Police had declined to release a copy of the report.

Sweeney blamed State Police and enemies in the outgoing Pataki administration for leaking the report to newspapers, including the Times Union, just before the election.

Gaia Sweeney, who goes by "Gayle," has since admitted she was pressured to go public before the election and claim the December 2005 police report was false.

John Sweeney filed for divorce last summer.

People close to Sweeney said he told them that the leak of the 911 report, and his son's arrest on felony assault charges, may have been the work of political operatives.

A State Police investigator close to the investigation said no one pressured the agency to arrest Sweeney's son on felony charges.

The investigator -- who is not authorized to comment publicly on the case -- said the only politically charged inquiry came from a former State Police bomb expert, John Curry, a part-time Albany County sheriff's inspector who is Sweeney's acquaintance.

Curry also works as a lobbyist for former state Republican Committee Chairman Bill Powers, who is a close friend of Sweeney's and had been one of his political mentors.

In addition, Gaia Sweeney had worked at Powers' firm before the couple's marriage imploded last year.

The week that Sweeney's son was arrested, Curry called two State Police investigators, including one who was supervising the case.

Curry allegedly mentioned that someday Sweeney "might be governor" during one of those calls, according to a member of the State Police briefed on the matter.

But Curry last week said his phone calls to a Bureau of Criminal Investigation captain, Frank Pace, and another investigator, Steve Nutting, were only to get information about what was happening to Sweeney's son.

Curry said he never tried to use his law enforcement background, his employment with Powers' firm or his acquaintance with Sweeney to try to influence the investigation.

"I got a call from a friend to call another friend to see where his kid was," Curry said.

"I wasn't involved in this thing."

"I never went there."

"I never showed up."

"I never got involved."

Pace declined comment except to say: "The matter is behind me and I don't see the need to discuss it any further."

Sweeney, who has had other alcohol-related brushes with police in the past year, has privately blamed the leak of the 911 report on people connected to Pataki, including Pataki's former senior policy adviser, Zenia Mucha.

A second police report -- purported to document the 911 call -- also was leaked to news outlets on the eve of the election.

It contained a sanitized version of the incident and characterized the call as "assist citizen" with no mention of the fight.

Leaders of the state troopers PBA contend the second report was fabricated by top State Police officials to aid Sweeney's ailing campaign and to cloud the validity of the first report.

Those allegations have not been investigated.

People close to Sweeney also said he has blamed Pace personally for his son's arrest on felony charges.

When the 911 report was leaked, Sweeney again blamed Pace.

After Sweeney's election loss, former State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett reassigned Pace to a patrol supervisor's post -- considered a demotion -- and launched an investigation into whether he was involved in leaking the 911 report.

Last year, following a lengthy State Police internal affairs investigation, Pace was cleared and reinstated to an investigator's position.

He remains a captain.

Wiese recently was placed on paid leave from his $179,000-a-year job overseeing security for the New York Power Authority.

The move came after allegations he may have been involved with political espionage within the ranks of the State Police.

Gov. David Paterson called for an investigation.

He did not respond to the Times Union's requests for comment.

Brendan Lyons can be reached at 454-5547 or by e-mail at blyons@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"State Police captain sues for old job - Former BCI supervisor Frank Pace was reassigned after being suspected of leaking Sweeney report"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, October 10, 2007

ALBANY -- A State Police captain is suing to get his investigator job back, claiming he was demoted after being suspected of leaking a domestic incident report to the media last year involving former Rep. John Sweeney.

Capt. Frank Pace, who headed the region's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, was reassigned to a uniformed post last November, less than two weeks after an internal report about a domestic incident at the congressman's home became public.

State Police internal affairs launched an investigation into whether the document was leaked by Pace, who was based in Loudonville.

The investigation dragged on for months before concluding the allegations were "unsubstantiated," according to the lawsuit.

An attorney for the State Police union contends the investigation should have determined the allegations were "unfounded," which is akin to being exonerated.

The union filed a claim on Pace's behalf in state Supreme Court in Albany two weeks ago.

Richard Mulvaney, general counsel for the New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association, said Pace also should have been reinstated to his prior post.

Mulvaney said questions remain about why State Police did not investigate whether any of the agency's leaders created an alternate police report which removed details about the couple's 911 call.

State Police labor leaders have called for an independent investigation into Pace's demotion.

The PBA also said an outside investigation should have been conducted into whether laws or policies were violated when the law enforcement agency created an alternate, sanitized version of the 911 report to protect the congressman's privacy during an election year.

State Police conceded they took steps to "secure the document and limit general access to it."

But they have not said whether those steps included creating a version of the police report in which the incident type was changed from a "domestic dispute" to "aid-assist citizen."

In the wake of the scandal last year, Pace received a letter from then-Deputy Superintendent Preston Felton informing him he was being transferred from his prestigious position supervising 80 investigators to a captain's post in a remote area of Fulton County.

The move came at the direction of former Superintendent Wayne Bennett, said union officials.

State Police officials have declined comment on the matter.

Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, lost to Democratic challenger Kirsten Gillibrand and was dogged in the campaign's final days by the disclosure of his wife's 911 call.

Brendan J. Lyons can be reached at 454-5547 or by e-mail at blyons@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

In a just-released March 31, 2005 Decision of Federal Court for the Northern District of New York, with grave consequences to the common citizen in the Northern District of New York who must have the certification of an expert witness in order to file certain Petitions for Redress of Grievance in the Courts of the State of New York, where negligence or malfeasance by the state or one of its political subdivisions is alleged, a recently-appointed Federal District Court Judge has refused to grant injunctive relief to the Plaintiff therein, a New York State licensed professional engineer and certified associate public health engineer, that would have given him protection of law in the State of New York while giving testimony in court ON BEHALF OF the citizens of the State of New York, against the State of New York, or one of its political subdivisions.

The issue before the Court in that matter, Case No. 1:03-CV-753, Matter of Plante, P.E. v. State of New York et al., requiring injunctive relief from the Federal District Court is a retaliatory practice in the Northern District of New York employed against an expert witness against the State of New York, BY THE STATE, where it simply removes the expert witness, as a witness against itself, by the expedient of having one of its doctors issue a signed declaration, SIGHT UNSEEN, that the witness in fact is an alleged dangerous mental patient who requires immediate incarceration in a secure mental health facility in the State of New York!

That order, known as a "9.45", then goes to the New York State Police, who capture the person, the intended victim, as it were, and take him to a designated secure mental health facility, for incarceration!

The "PSYCHIATRIC TAKEDOWN", it is called, and it is illegal, in that a doctor in the State of New York, BY FEDERAL and STATE LAW, both, cannot issue one of these orders IF he has never even seen the person, let alone examined him or her in person, as happened in this just-dismissed case involving this expert witness on behalf of the people of the State of New York, where the state's doctor issued a fraudulent "9.45" order for this expert witness, SIGHT UNSEEN, just days before this expert witness was going to file an affidavit on behalf of the citizens of Rensselaer County documenting continuing corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health having an adverse impact on the public health, safety, and well-being in the Town of Poestenkill, County of Rensselaer, State of New York!

In this case at bar, which was dismissed Sua Sponte by Bush-appointee Hon. Gary L. Sharpe on March 31, 2005, an illegal "9.45" order was issued against the Plaintiff on August 22, 2001, to intimidate and deter the Plaintiff from giving further evidence of corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health in a court of law!

Before the Federal District Court in support of a Motion for Injunctive Relief against the State of New York, the County of Rensselaer and the Town of Poestenkill in this matter was a July 13, 2004 letter from Rensselaer County Criminal Court Justice Patrick J. McGrath, wherein Justice McGrath, the chief criminal court judge in the County of Rensselaer, informed Federal Court Justice Sharpe that he, McGrath, had reviewed the evidence in the case as Rensselaer County's chief criminal court justice, and that he was concerned because that evidence supported a conclusion of violation of federal and state criminal codes, in addition to the civil charges contained in the Complaint in the matter.

Among the evidence which Judge McGrath relied upon in forming his conclusion of violation of federal and state criminal codes was a graphic video tape wherein one of the defendants can be seen physically assaulting and threatening the Plaintiff, and causing him bodily harm, to deter him from performing the duties of a licensed professional engineer in the State of New York, and a March 16, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation which is at the very heart of this matter of OUR right to dissent, and to petition for redress of grievance, which apparently has just been stripped from us common citizens in the Northern District of New York by Bush-appointee Sharpe on March 31, 2005.

In that March 16, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which was before Judge Sharpe in the Plaintiff's Motion for Injunctive Relief as Exhibit J, a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, based upon a review of substantial evidence, concluded:

"According to [name deleted], the results of the State's investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little 'enforcement activity' even in the face of illegal sales."

"According to [name deleted], the object of any county health department (in the state of New York) is to protect the public, and not to facilitate developers, or development."

"In the case of Rensselaer County, it appears that the Rensselaer County Health Department was in business to facilitate developers and development rather than to protect the public!"

Good morning, Salute_Liberty!

Thank you for commenting.

The problem, here, and why I am bothering to take this time to run this thread, is that the average American, more and more, and especially by this particular case, is being marginalized, to the point of not having protection of law, or the hope of due process!

And that is a very dangerous scenario, indeed!

To us in this small area of the United States up here who are witnesses to this on-going situation, involving OUR collective rights to equal protection of the law, this incident has been dubbed OUR Krystallnact, where on 8-22-01, OUR rights were smashed into the ground, with impunity by the perpetrators, which was, what is alleged to be OUR own government.

What is alleged to be OUR government took OUR representative and attacked him in plain sight in broad daylight, for all to see, on videotape, and it has then held that over OUR heads as a threat since!

"SEE WHAT WE CAN DO!"

"WHO WANTS TO BE NEXT?"

OUR only hope from that time to this was in the Federal Courts, and that hope had a basis, in that Federal Law makes it clear that what occurred here in the Town of Poestenkill, in the County of Rensselaer, in the State of New York is blatantly illegal, which is consistent with the opinion rendered by Rensselaer County Criminal Court Justice McGrath!

Further, the original Federal Judge assigned to the case, Judge Hurd, had just ruled in 2002, in a very similar case in the Northern District of New York, where we are located, that this set of circumstances constituted violations of federal law.

That case was Ruhlmann v. Ulster County Dept. of Social Services et al., 234 F.Supp.2d 140 (NDNY 2002), where at 169, Judge Hurd stated as follows:

"It would be nonsensical, for example, for a doctor who has had no contact whatsoever with a person to have the authority to have that person locked up!"

Where that is exactly what happened in this case, our collective hopes were high that Rensselaer County would be delivered a similar stern message from the Federal Court, and so we would all collectively benefit by the scrutiny of the Federal Courts being focused on Rensselaer County, as it had been on Ulster County's practices by Judge Hurd.

Then, to OUR shock and dismay, the Chief Judge up here took the case away from Judge Hurd, and gave it over to this Judge Sharpe, who had just been appointed to the Federal bench by George W. Bush as one of his CONSERVATIVE judges, which did not at all bode well for us, AS THE PERPETRATORS in this case are REPUBLICANS.

Our fears were realized on March 31, 2005, with the Decision that came down from the Judge Sharpe, as it completely reverses the law as it had been stated by Judge Hurd, and it puts the imprimatur of the Federal Courts on this tactic of the State being able to destroy witnesses against it by the use of this expedient method of the "PSYCHIATRIC TAKEDOWN", where the state can simply now, with the apparent blessing of Judge Scullin, the Chief Judge up here, have one of its pet doctors, SIGHT UNSEEN, and contrary to Judge Hurd's ruling, ORDER an expert witness to be locked up in a secure mental health facility, WITH NO RECOURSE TO THE LAW!

Rhetorically speaking, who is going to chance that fate to defend the rights of a bunch of citizens without money or clout?

And there IS where we are!

Out in the cold by the side of the road, and running out of hope in the goodness of anything here in America anymore, and especially not its Federal Court system up here in the Northern District of New York, which may be on its way to being OUR GULAG ARCHIPELAGO, thanks to this very chilling ruling that does not bode well at all for OUR futures here in the alleged corrupt EMPIRE STATE of New York!

On or about August 14, 2004, the contents of the letter to Judge Walter were formalized in an AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF INJUNCTIVE RELIEF PURSUANT TO FED.R.CIV.P. 65, and that motion, with NOTICE was formally served on Eliot Spitzer and ALL other parties, in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, in relevant part, as follows:

PLAINTIFF NYSPE, being duly sworn, deposes and says that the following statements are true:

4. Annexed hereto as Exhibit A and made a part hereof is a July 9, 2004 letter from PLAINTIFF pro se to Rensselaer County Court Judge Patrick J. McGrath complaining of continued intimidation and threats of violence and bodily harm to myself made by defendant Jeffrey Pelletier on July 9, 2004 in connection with this above matter. (See, Amended Complaint, paras. 5-15)

5. Annexed hereto as Exhibit B and made a part hereof is a July 13, 2004 letter to PLAINTIFF from Judge McGrath wherein Judge McGrath states in relevant part as follows:

"This will acknowledge the court's receipt of your letter dated July 9, 2004, and the attachments thereto, all of which I have reviewed."

"Needless to say, your allegations are disturbing, especially as they encompass potential federal, as well as state, criminal charges, in that they include, among others, an allegation of false imprisonment in a federal facility, Stratton VA Medical Center."

6. Thus is formed a basis to believe that plaintiff was harmed in the State of New York by the actions of the defendants on and after August 7, 2001. (See, Amended Complaint, paras. 6-30)

DATED: August 13, 2004
Poestenkill, N.Y.

signed: PLAINTIFF Pro Se

DO WE HAVE SOME SOME BACKLASH HERE AGAINST RENSSELAER COUNTY CRIMINAL COURT JUDGE PATRICK McGRATH BECAUSE HE CHOSE TO STAND UP FOR THE LAW, AND THE PLAINTIFF'S RIGHTS IN THIS MATTER, WHICH THREATENS CONTINUING CORRUPTION IN RENSSELAER COUNTY?

"Carpinello wants second term as state justice"

By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 1:25 p.m., Tuesday, April 22, 2008

TROY -- State Supreme Court Justice Anthony J. Carpinello today announced plans to seek a second 14-year term on the bench, declaring his candidacy with supportive Rensselaer County Republicans surrounding him on the county courthouse steps.

Albany County Conservative Party Chairman Richard Stack was also there to deliver his party's endorsement of Carpinello.

"If it ain't broke why fix it," Stack said.

"We endorsed him because he has experience and integrity and has done an outstanding job."

Stack said Rensselaer County Judge Patrick McGrath interviewed for the post with the Albany County Conservatives, but the party decided to back Carpinello.

Democrats have yet to endorse any candidates and McGrath could not be reached for comment.

Last year, both the GOP and Democrats cross endorsed state Supreme Court Justices Joseph C. Teresi of Albany County, George B. Ceresia of Rensselaer County and Christopher E. Cahill of Ulster County.

In return for endorsing the Democrats, GOP leaders expected that the Democrats would back Carpinello this year.

Carpinello, a Republican, has an assignment to the Appellate Division but must run for his Supreme Court seat to retain the former appointment.

"My commitment to public service began 34 years ago when I ran for the East Greenbush town board," Carpinello told the crowd of supporters.

"Nixon had just resigned and the county Republican head at the time would not even accompany me on door-to-door campaigning so I pledged I would knock on every door in town and I did and won."

Carpinello has a bigger task before him in this election.

He serves in the Third Judicial District which covers the counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Ulster, Columbia, Greene, Schoharie and Sullivan counties.

"For 13 years of the term the law says that I can have nothing to do with politics and then for a short time they tell me I can go out and campaign and meet 550,000 people," Carpinello said.

Carpinello's wife Sharon Carpinello stood by him during his announcement.

Also at his side was his mother, Jennie Carpinello.

Carpinello served on the East Greenbush town board from 1975 to 1981, as a Rensselaer County legislator from 1982 to 1989 and East Greenbush town justice from 1993 to 1994.

This post has been edited by Livyjr: Apr 23 2008, 03:32 PM

[Livyjr]

2004

Albany, New York Times Union

"Someone with access to a lawyer can win by making it impossible for the other partner to be in the game,"' Albany Law School professor Laurie Shanks said.

It's a process set up by lawyers for lawyers, she said.

"I WOULD NOT GO TO COURT WITHOUT A LAWYER," added state Deputy Administrative Judge Juanita Bing Newton, who heads up Justice Initiatives for the Unified Court System.

"AND I AM CERTAINLY NOT AN ADVOCATE OF PEOPLE REPRESENTING THEMSELVES."

AND AS NEW YORK STATE ALREADY IS INFESTED WITH A PLAGUE OF PARASITIC LAWYERS ....

LIKE RATS INFESTING A FARMER'S CORN CRIB ...

A PLAGUE THAT HAS MADE OUR STATE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS UP HERE INTO A STANDING JOKE, OR HOLLOW MOCKERY ...

AN INFESTATION THAT HAS SERVED TO STRIP US UP HERE OF OUR RIGHTS UNDER THE NYS BILL OF RIGHTS ...

SO THAT TO HAVE "RIGHTS" IN THIS CORRUPT ****HOLE, WE HAVE TO BUY THEM BACK FROM THESE PARASITIC LAWYERS WHO HOLD THEM HOSTAGE ....

WE HAVE ...

"Dean of only state-run law school objects to adding more in New York, cites 'glut'"

By CHRIS CAROLA, Associated Press

Last updated: 3:12 p.m., Tuesday, April 22, 2008

ALBANY -- With nearly 150,000 lawyers living and working in the state, a strong case could be made that the legal profession is well represented in New York.

Even with all those lawyers -- more than any other state -- some New York officials are pushing for creating new law schools.

But the head of the State University of New York's only law school isn't among them.

"There's no question that we simply have a glut of law schools," said Makau Mutua, interim dean of the University at Buffalo Law School.

"There's no shortage of access to legal education for New Yorkers who want to go to law school."

The state budget passed by the Legislature earlier this month includes more than $50 million for developing law schools in the Rochester and Binghamton areas and on Long Island.

The Rochester school would be affiliated with St. John Fisher College, a private school in suburban Pittsford, while the SUNY system's Binghamton and Stony Brook universities would get their own law schools.

More than $2 million would help pay for Fisher to study creation of a law school.

The rest of the funding is for the two SUNY schools, with the lion's share going to Stony Brook, including $250,000 for a feasibility study and $45 million for building the law school.

Creation of any new law schools is subject to approval by the SUNY administration, its board of trustees, the state Education Department, the state Board of Regents and the governor, said SUNY spokesman Dave Henahan.

"The SUNY system administration will assist in the process," he said.

There are 15 law schools in New York, 13 of them private.

UB's law school and the City University of New York School of Law in Queens are the only public schools in the state.

Mutua said the state hasn't done enough to support UB's law school and doesn't need to spend taxpayer dollars studying whether to establish more state-run law schools, let alone one that would be affiliated with a private college.

"It's mind-boggling for the state to contemplate giving money to start up a private law school," said Mutua, a UB law faculty member for nearly a dozen years before being named interim dean in December.

The state would be better off investing in UB to hire more faculty and recruit students for its law school, where about 800 students must share a 35-year-old building with undergraduates, Mutua said.

"We need a completely new building," he said.

"We're squeezed for space."

Building more law schools isn't on the New York State Bar Association's to-do list.

A spokeswoman for the organization said its legal education and admission committee hasn't been called on to study whether New York needs more law schools.

"I have no idea why the state would consider three more law schools," said Thomas Guernsey, dean of Albany Law School.

"There's no evidence in the job market that we need more than those 15 schools."

The state Labor Department projects that jobs for lawyers will increase by about 9,200 by 2014.

The bar association reports that about 7,700 people passed the New York bar exam in July 2007.

With several thousand people passing the exam each year, there's no shortage of lawyers, Guernsey said.

According to the American Bar Association's latest figures, there were more than 147,000 attorneys living and working in New York state in 2007.

Some 80,000 others live out of state but are registered to practice in New York, according to the state Office of Court Administration.

California had the second-most resident lawyers with more than 145,000, according to the ABA.

A state lawmaker who pushed for the St. John Fisher funding in the state budget says a law school, if located in downtown Rochester, would give the city a much-needed economic boost.

"This is really about improving regionalism and improving Rochester's academic landscape and career opportunities," said state Senator Joseph Robach, a Republican from suburban Greece.

Robach envisions a Rochester law school that would primarily attract local college graduates seeking affordable legal education closer to home.

As for using state money to fund a study for a private college, Robach -- a graduate of Brockport State College -- said that's a "small sliver of money" compared to the "hundreds of millions of dollars" UB has received over the years.

Officials at SUNY-Binghamton didn't return a call seeking comment, but a Web site set up by the university says another public law school in New York state "will provide greater access to high-quality, affordable education."

------

On the Net:

Binghamton University: http://think.binghamton.edu/lawschool.cgi

[Livyjr]

"Knapp attorney gets adviser role - 'Serpico' case resulted in shake-up; too soon to tell in trooper probe"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, April 10, 2008

ALBANY -- It's too early to say whether Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's recently-launched probe of possible political meddling by the State Police will resemble the Knapp Commission, said Michael Armstrong, the veteran prosecutor who served on the 1970s-era panel that uncovered corruption in the New York City Police Department.

"It really depends on what we find," said Armstrong, who, along with fellow-lawyer Robert Fiske, was named by Cuomo on Wednesday as a volunteer adviser on the State Police probe.

Last week, Gov. David Paterson asked Cuomo to investigate whether members of the State Police have been involved in political interference.

"Cuomo picks lawyer to head NY trooper investigation"

Associated Press

Last updated: 4:12 p.m., Tuesday, April 22, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says he's appointed an attorney to head an investigation into whether state troopers have allowed politics to interfere with their work.

Manhattan attorney Sharon McCarthy will act as special counsel for the case.

Gov. David Paterson asked Cuomo to pursue the investigation after an Albany prosecutor issued a report that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer may have lied when he told investigators he wasn't involved in a plot against a Republican rival.

State police are accused of re-creating Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's travel records to embarrass him.

Spitzer resigned after being connected to a prostitution ring.

McCarthy worked in the U.S. Attorney's office for more than 12 years.