THE "PORK" IN NEW YORK, Thoughts of an older American on Constitutional Government in the USA Options

[Livyjr]

"'Booker' in Spitzer prostitution case pleads guilty"

By Wire report

Last updated: 11:10 a.m., Wednesday, May 14, 2008

A woman accused of being a prostitution ring booker has pleaded guilty in the federal probe that brought down former NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the Associated Press is reporting.

Temeka Rachelle Lewis, 32, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Manhattan federal court to promoting prostitution and money laundering.

She is among four defendants in the case involving the Emperor's Club VIP call girl ring.

Court papers say the FBI secretly recorded conversations between Lewis and Spitzer about a Feb. 13 tryst with a prostitute in Washington.

Spitzer, who's identified in the court papers as Client No. 9, announced his resignation on March 12.

[Livyjr]

"Woman pleads guilty in Spitzer prostitution probe - Woman pleads guilty to booking clients in probe that brought down former NY Gov. Spitzer"

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:12 p.m., Wednesday, May 14, 2008

NEW YORK -- A woman accused of booking clients for a high-priced call girl ring pleaded guilty Wednesday to money laundering and promoting prostitution in the federal probe that brought down former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Temeka Rachelle Lewis, who worked as a booking agent for the Emperor's Club VIP, is the first defendant to admit guilt in the case that led to Spitzer's resignation.

She made a brief court appearance in a plea bargain that obligates her to turn over records, testify before a grand jury if asked and answer any questions investigators may have about her role in arranging dates between Emperor's Club working girls and the agency's deep-pocketed clients.

Her agreement to cooperate was revealed in court papers filed by prosecutors, then reluctantly confirmed by her lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, after a federal magistrate turned down his request to have the records sealed.

Members of the news media had objected to a seal.

Agnifilo said Lewis, 32, has yet to be asked to appear before the grand jury.

He added that prosecutors have not disclosed whether the probe's next target is Spitzer, who has not been charged.

Asked why his client pleaded guilty, Agnifilo said Lewis, who majored in English at the University of Virginia and has never been in trouble with the law before, just wants to put the case behind her.

"She's basically a very good person."

"Sitting at a defense table in a federal courthouse is the last place she imagined she'd be," he said.

"I have no doubt she'll never be in trouble again."

Lewis, with her mother and sister looking on, appeared calm in court, then left without speaking to reporters.

Under federal sentencing guidelines she could face around 16 months in prison, or less, depending on the level of her cooperation with prosecutors, Agnifilo said.

Her sentencing was tentatively scheduled for August.

The Emperor's Club investigation began last year when banks flagged suspicious cash transfers to companies set up to disguise payments by the ring's clients.

Some of the transfers were traced to Spitzer.

The FBI disclosed in court papers that agents secretly recorded conversations between Lewis and Spitzer about a Feb. 13 tryst in Washington with a prostitute.

The former governor, identified in court papers only as Client 9, allegedly paid $4,300.

Spitzer, who is married and has three teenage daughters, resigned March 12, just days after his role in the case became public.

Spitzer has apologized without expressly acknowledging he had visited prostitutes.

The other defendants are Mark Brener, 62, of Cliffside Park, N.J., who is accused of running the ring; Cecil Suwal, 23, who lives with Brener; and Tanya Hollander, 36, of Rhinebeck, N.Y., who authorities said also worked as a booking agent for prostitutes.

Investigators say the ring charged $1,000 to $5,500 per hour for dozens of prostitutes in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris.

As state attorney general, Spitzer built a reputation as a crusader against shady practices and overly generous compensation on Wall Street.

The Democrat's cases included prosecution of prostitution rings and the sex tourism industry.

[Livyjr]

"NY lawmakers optimistic about governor's proposal for stricter oversight of doctors"

By VALERIE BAUMAN, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:52 p.m., Wednesday, May 14, 2008

ALBANY -- Lawmakers say Gov. David Paterson's proposal to increase doctor oversight and prevent misconduct has a good chance of passing this session -- but with changes.

Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, a New York City Democrat, says both legislative chambers will have a few concerns about Paterson's proposal to tell the public more about medical misconduct.

Gottfried says he's confident that some version of the bill will pass this session, but declined to comment on his concerns until he had more time to review the legislation.

"The infection control and physician discipline issues are very important," Gottfried said.

"The governor's initiative should help focus attention and bring about an agreement that can become law this session."

State Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon, a Long Island Republican, has introduced his own measure, with goals that overlap with the governor's.

Overall, he says New York will likely pass legislation to increase patient safety, infection control and oversight of practitioners before the end of session in June.

"We try to be a little more pointed about dealing with infection control and education about infection control and about aiming that at ambulatory and outpatient settings," Hannon said of his own proposal.

"We also added in a requirement that the patient safety center annually review the physician profiles."

Under Paterson's proposal, any professional discipline charges would be made public.

Right now the public isn't notified of physician misconduct unless and until the doctor is found guilty.

Charges are issued after an investigation is complete, which can take an average of about six months.

The goal is to give the Office of Professional Medical Conduct more power and oversight of physicians, to provide more information to New Yorkers in the case of public health threats, and to prevent problems from happening in the first place.

"I don't see the issues here as breaking down on partisan lines, fortunately," Gottfried said.

"I think this is an issue where it's certainly doable for the legislature to come together and work out whatever issues we may have."

Vito Grasso, executive director of the New York state Academy of Family Physicians, said it's crucial to increase oversight, but Paterson's approach could unfairly damage the career of a physician who's not ultimately found guilty.

"I would also hope that if the individual was completely acquitted that information would be just as well-documented and publicized," Grasso said.

In 2007, the state Health Department received 8,163 complaints against doctors.

Of those, officials opened 4,151 investigations.

Ultimately charges were brought against just 311 physicians, and health officials said the vast majority of those were sustained -- the doctor was found guilty of misconduct.

State law is currently silent about when officials can disclose charges of professional misconduct to the public, but attorneys for the state say a legislative change is necessary before charges against a doctor can be released.

A 2005 investigation by the comptroller's office found that the OPMC was thorough in its investigation of cases of potential misconduct, but wasn't proactively rooting it out.

"The publication of charges is something that I would say is very common across the states," said Lisa Robin, senior vice president of member services for the Federation of State Medical Boards.

"So I would applaud the governor's office for introducing this legislation."

Paterson's proposal would also require the OPMC to continuously review medical malpractice claims reported to the Department of Health to identify and investigate potential misconduct.

Courts would have to report to OPMC any time a doctor was sentenced for misdemeanor or felony offenses.

Another major change would be that the proposal would extend existing laws on infection control to keep up with the changing world of medically transmitted infections.

The infection-related aspects of the proposal were, in part, a reaction to Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist from Long Island accused of dipping syringes more than once into vials of medicine, contaminating the drugs and infecting at least one person with hepatitis.

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On the Net: http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/opmc/main.htm

http://www.nydoctorprofile.com/

http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/healt...tientsafety.htm

[Livyjr]

"New York Legislature releasing details of capital 'pork' - NY Legislature details $750 million in capital 'pork' going back home this election year"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:33 p.m., Wednesday, May 14, 2008

ALBANY -- Senate and Assembly members will direct $750 million in pork-barrel spending for construction projects to recipients including colleges, downtown renewal programs and ethnic museums in their districts this election year.

Despite the $5 billion deficit and the prospect of $20 billion in deficits in the next three years, lawmakers contend the spending -- usually announced with much fanfare in their districts -- is essential for boosting the economy.

Among the projects Assembly members and senators found money for was $2 million for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center; $3.4 million split between a Buffalo hotel and a Syracuse hotel; and $500,000 for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

"What's wrong with this is the public has no way to evaluate what the benefits are," said Elizabeth Lynam of the Citizens Budget Commission, an independent fiscal watchdog of government.

"They tend to be for narrow constituent bands, yet they are being funded from taxpayer-paid coffers."

The Senate's Republican majority detailed nearly $218 million in spending, none of which will go to Democrats trying to take over the majority this fall.

Democratic Gov. David Paterson is expected to give Democratic senators some of his share of the $1.2 billion in capital spending approved in April.

The Assembly released details of their $243 million share in April.

The Senate's list of grants was released Tuesday evening.

The Assembly released an Internet link on April 9 in one of several press releases issued on the day the state budget was passed.

Paterson hasn't yet released his list.

"Making smart investments to New York's economy and capital infrastructure is a vital component of keeping our state vibrant and competitive in the global marketplace," said Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who has represented his district based in Rensselaer County since 1976.

Fiscal critics and good-government groups have long criticized such discretionary spending directed by individual lawmakers.

They say the projects chosen behind closed doors are funded based more on political need and a lawmaker's seniority than the need of communities.

The projects include more than $35 million for five State University of New York projects and several grants worth millions of dollars each for New York City museums and ethnic programs.

Among the spending:

--The Senate majority is providing more than $7 million to colleges, an airport and for development of a county industrial park in the district served by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

That includes $4 million to his alma mater, Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs.

--The Senate also provided more than $35 million to Long Island projects, including waterfront development; a medical school building at Hofstra University; and for a high-tech "innovation center."

Long Island has long been a Senate Republicans' stronghold.

--The Assembly's grants include $15 million to the Queens Museum of Art, $10 million to the Coney Island Boardwalk, $2 million to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and $25 million for the University at Rochester's Clinical and Translational Sciences Building.

The Assembly Democrats' strength is in New York City and upstate's biggest cities.

--The Assembly provided $2 million to WNYC National Public Radio in New York City and $750,000 for Millennium High School in Manhattan, an innovative public school that allows for less formal learning in small groups rather than traditional classrooms.

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On the Net:

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

(see "Senate reports")

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

(see "What's New" for April 9 press releases)

[Livyjr]

'Commission receives record complaints against judges - State commission reports record 1,711 misconduct complaints against judges last year"

Associated Press

Last updated: 5:22 p.m., Wednesday, May 14, 2008

ALBANY -- The State Commission on Judicial Conduct says it received a record 1,711 complaints last year against some of the state's 3,500 judges and justices.

Most complaints were dismissed after preliminary review.

In its annual report released Wednesday, the state agency responsible for investigating judicial misconduct says in 2007 it conducted 413 preliminary inquiries, authorized 192 new investigations and carried forward 275 pending cases.

Its 27 public decisions resulted in five judges removed, 10 censured, nine publicly admonished, and three public stipulations where judges agreed to leave the bench and not to seek office again.

Another nine judges resigned in 2007 while under investigation.

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On the Net:

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

[Livyjr]

And as of this morning .....

The "PORK-O-CRACY" in the State of New York appears to be quite alive .....

And doing very well for itself ....

As it feels it should ....

After all ....

PUBLIC SERVICE ....

SHOULD NOT BE ABOUT SERVING THE PUBLIC ...

RATHER ...

IT IS ABOUT GETTING INTO THE PUBLIC'S PANTS POCKETS ....

AND LIVING HERE ....

Making your own life better ...

At their expense ...

Like rats in a farmer's corn crib ....

Or weevils in the flour ....

And so ....

"Lifetime perk draws scrutiny - Lawmaker says members of state boards may have erred in giving themselves health coverage benefit"

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

First published: Friday, January 26, 2007

ALBANY -- Board members of two state agencies charged with helping create affordable housing in New York voted last year to use state funds to give themselves and their spouses lifetime health insurance, according to board members.

The six-member Housing Finance Agency and the eight-member New York State Mortgage Association boards gave themselves the benefits as a payback for service, said former Sen. Howard C. Nolan, an appointee of the comptroller's office to the SONYMA board.

He said the benefit seemed reasonable given the unpaid service board members provide the state, and the need to "attract quality people."

"A lot of people won't serve unless they get a touch of the hat," said Nolan, who represented Albany County in the Senate.

WITHOUT EVER-INCREASING "WELFARE" FROM THE "STATE", LIFE IN NEW YORK STATE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTINUE ...

AND THE ECONOMY WILL BE HURT ...

WHICH IS A REAL JOKE WHEN YOU THINK ON IT ...

THE ONLY ECONOMY THAT WE REALLY HAVE ANYMORE IS AN ARTIFICIAL ONE CREATED BY THE "STATE" TAKING MONEY FROM THE MANY AND GIVING IT TO THE FEW .....

WE ARE BECOMING NO DIFFERENT FROM THE SOVIET UNION BACK IN THE 1950's ...

THE "STATE-RUN ECONOMY" ....

AND WHERE IS THE SOVIET UNION TODAY, PRAY TELL?

OH!

YES, THAT'S RIGHT ...

THERE ISN'T ONE ANY LONGER ...

IT COLLAPSED OF ITS OWN WEIGHT ...

JUST LIKE THE CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK IS DOING TODAY ...

AS OLDER PEOPLE UP HERE LIKE MYSELF TELL YOUNGER PEOPLE TO GET OUT OF THIS CORRUPT ****HOLE, AND GO SOME OTHER PLACE TO START THEIR LIVES WHERE THE OPPRESSIVE "STATE" WON'T ALWAYS BE IN YOUR POCKET, TAKING FROM YOU TO GIVE TO THE CONNECTED SPECIAL INTERESTS WHO CONTROL THIS STATE UP HERE FOR THEIR BENEFIT, AND THEIRS ALONE ...

And so ...

"Critics say IDA impasse harmful - Nonprofit, business groups say delay in making changes is drag on state's economy"

By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008

ALBANY -- A coalition of nonprofit and business groups on Tuesday said the ongoing impasse over revamping industrial development agencies is hurting the state's economy.

The groups urged the quick passage of a measure that would again allow IDAs to issue tax-exempt bonds on behalf of nonprofit groups and others seeking to build so-called civic facilities.

IDAs have been unable to do so since the end of January, when a legislative stalemate over the future of the agencies led to the expiration of a provision allowing them to assist the civic groups, as they have long done.

The groups say the stalemate is delaying construction projects statewide, causing a drag on the economy.

"We ought to be creating opportunities for development, not putting barriers in place," Carl Young, president of the New York Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, said Tuesday.

Young spoke at a Capitol news conference designed to pressure lawmakers into action.

The hundreds of IDAs statewide are essentially two-headed beasts.

They give tax breaks to private developers as a way to increase the state's employment base.

They also provide tax-exempt bonds for nonprofits like hospitals, nursing homes and colleges.

The tax breaks to private developers are controversial, with critics claiming IDAs give to undeserving projects and are free from oversight; almost no one argues the help for nonprofits should end.

But as debate swirls over how best to change the way IDAs help private developers, the state's nonprofits are caught in the middle.

They could go to private lenders for construction money, but they would lose the tax exemption and add significantly to the cost of their projects.

Albany Medical Center is among the nonprofit entities affected by the impasse.

The hospital, which did not participate in Tuesday's news conference, expected to use IDAs this year to fund nearly $12 million in renovation projects.

"If we have to go to alternative sources, it will end up costing us more money," said Greg McGarry, a spokesman for the hospital.

McGarry said Albany Med will not delay the projects, however, and he was unsure how much more the hospital would have to pay.

The last legislative action on IDA overhaul was in January, when the Assembly passed a bill that would impose sweeping changes to the way the agencies operate.

The bill would require more financial disclosure and require builders who receive help to pay workers a so-called prevailing or union-scale wage.

Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, sponsored the legislation, which he said aims to "shine light on their activities" and make them "more successful, more accountable and more careful with the taxpayers' money."

Business groups, and many Senate Republicans, object to the bill, saying it will increase construction costs for IDA-sponsored projects.

They say it would offset any benefits IDAs could offer.

Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Appraiser: Cuomo plan for code is too costly - Effort to end inflated values for home loans also draws criticism from bankers, mortgage lenders"

By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008

ALBANY -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is rocking the home appraisal industry -- and not just in his home state.

Cuomo has successfully pushed a "home valuation code of conduct" that will apply nationally and could affect the price paid for real estate.

Independent appraisers say it will affect them, too.

"This is the straw that broke the camel's back," said Bob La Belle, owner of La Belle Appraisal Group in Clifton Park.

"It's not economically feasible for me to stay in business anymore."

Appraisers generally are asked to determine a home's value after a buyer and seller have agreed on a purchase price.

The appraiser's determination influences the size of the mortgage a lender is willing to offer.

Cuomo says fraudulent collusion between mortgage brokers and appraisers often brings inflated home value estimates, leading to both the housing bubble of the last decade and the ongoing foreclosure crisis.

Cuomo last September issued subpoenas to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, suggesting he was considering legal action.

Settling the investigation, the mortgage giants in March agreed to the code of conduct for all the loans they back -- and that applies not just in New York but nationally.

The code, scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, forbids mortgage brokers from selecting or paying appraisers; prevents lenders from using appraisers they employ; and prohibits lenders from using appraisal management companies they own or control, among other steps.

Also under the agreement, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agreed to pay $24 million to create an "Independent Valuation Protection Institute" that will implement and monitor the code.

Cuomo trumpets the agreement as a triumph for consumers.

Reaction from the banking and mortgage industries has been strongly negative.

And earlier this month, the federal Office of Thrift Supervision said the process leading to the agreement was "flawed" because it did not allow for input from lenders or federal regulators.

Groups like the American Bankers Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association have even accused Cuomo of a power grab that allows New York "to unlawfully exercise authority that resides exclusively in the federal government."

Cuomo, though, said reaction to the code has been overwhelmingly positive, and says the reaction from industry was predictable.

"The agreements with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ... are groundbreaking and require real structural change in the industry," Cuomo said in a statement.

"So it is not surprising that current industry participants, many of whom have significant economic interests of their own at stake, have differing perspectives."

Some in the industry fear prohibiting mortgage brokers from hiring appraisers will lead lenders to route all appraisals through large management firms, to the detriment of smaller businesses like the one owned by La Belle.

"It's the end of the small independent appraiser," said La Belle, who has been in business since 1979 and says he receives about $300 per appraisal.

Cuomo's measure applies only to loans funded by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

But together, they now account for about 80 percent of new mortgages, according to an Associated Press report, and the impact of the agreement is significant.

"That's the bulk of my business, and appraisal work in general," La Belle said.

Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Ex-chief unlikely to face charges, experts say - Gregory Kaczmarek's knowledge of a drug operation that allegedly involves his wife would not be enough"

By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008

SCHENECTADY -- A law professor and local attorneys agree it's unlikely former Schenectady police chief Gregory T. Kaczmarek will face criminal charges related to a 13-month probe into a drug enterprise that has ensnared two of his family members.

Albany Law School Professor Daniel Moriarty said just having knowledge about the alleged Schenectady-based narcotics operation is not enough to accuse the former chief, who has had to deal with rumors of drug use in the past.

Kaczmarek's wife, Lisa, 48, and stepson, Miles Smith, 20, were among 24 people indicted last week following a 13-month state attorney general investigation into a drug operation that allegedly funneled large quantities of crack cocaine and heroin from Long Island to Schenectady for distribution.

The Schenectady County grand jury indictment outlines elaborate plans to peddle drugs out of four apartments in Schenectady and one in Coram in Suffolk County, Long Island.

Stash houses where the drugs, guns and drug proceeds would be stored also are described in the court document.

And while wiretapped phone conversations indicate Gregory Kaczmarek was present during talks his wife allegedly had with accused ringleader Kerry "Slim" Kirkem, 40, that alone doesn't make him an accomplice to a crime, according to the law professor.

"To be an accomplice, you have to intend to aid, intend to participate," Moriarty said.

"Knowledge is not sufficient, purpose is sufficient."

Lawyers speaking about the investigation agreed with Moriarty's assessment, noting it would be an uphill legal battle even if Lisa Kaczmarek opted to testify against her husband.

In that scenario, Gregory Kaczmarek could argue he never made comments that his wife attributes to him -- about flashing his police badge to assist with the drug running -- since his voice is only captured in the background on a wiretapped phone conversation.

His attorney also could contend that any remarks he may have made are not admissible in court because he was having a privileged conversation with his spouse.

The Kaczmareks are being represented by Kevin Luibrand.

"I think if they had evidence they would have charged him," Luibrand said.

"There was enough to require that he protect his interest."

And prosecutors would need to corroborate any testimony Lisa Kaczmarek might give.

"Her testimony would have to be corroborated by somebody else's," Moriarty said.

This is not the first time the Kaczmareks have been mentioned in connection with drugs.

When then-Schenectady Mayor Albert P. Jurczynski was considering Gregory Kaczmarek for chief in 1996, Kaczmarek held a remarkable news conference to challenge rumors.

"I'm not a drug user or abuser and never have been one," he said at the time.

He retired in 2002.

Three years ago, Lisa Kaczmarek was arrested after allegedly being caught with marijuana when she went through a security checkpoint at Schenectady City Court.

That case was later adjourned and sealed.

Moriarty said considering potential charges against Gregory Kaczmarek would be a different story if he were still active in law enforcement and had allegedly flashed his police badge.

"If he was still a police officer, then he would have certain legal duties," he said.

But without the active status, "You may have certain moral and social obligations, but no legal obligations."

Meanwhile, two of the 24 defendants named in the indictment remained at large Tuesday, according to authorities.

Paul Nelson can be reached at 454-5347 or by e-mail at pnelson@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"NY prosecutor who targeted public corruption wins big with Spitzer prostitution investigation"

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:33 a.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008

NEW YORK -- Michael Garcia's predecessors as U.S. attorney in Manhattan took on all five mob families, the titans of Wall Street, Osama bin Laden and even Martha Stewart.

So it was largely unnoticed when Garcia wanted to attack public corruption.

Then his public corruption unit investigated a prostitution ring that took down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

In an interview last week, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on the investigation.

That's not surprising since his office must decide whether to bring criminal charges against Spitzer, identified in court papers only as Client No. 9.

A woman accused of booking clients for the high-priced call girl ring, Temeka Rachelle Lewis, pleaded guilty Wednesday to promoting prostitution and money laundering.

She could face around 16 months in prison, or less, depending on how much she cooperates with prosecutors, when she is sentenced in August, her lawyer said.

Three others accused of being part of the ring still face charges, and their lawyers are negotiating with the U.S. attorney's office.

The escort service prosecution that ensnared Spitzer is the highest profile in a string of successes this year for one of the nation's busiest and largest federal prosecutors offices, which has more than 220 assistant U.S. attorneys.

The day after the charges were announced, former Democratic Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin pleaded guilty to a decade of crimes, admitting he took thousands of dollars in kickbacks and forced members of a labor union he led to hang his Christmas lights.

In a span of several weeks, Garcia's office announced a guilty plea by former Refco Inc. chief executive Phillip R. Bennett, the arrest of an alleged Israeli spy in a 20-year-old case, and a slew of extraditions and convictions of international drug traffickers.

The public corruption unit has fewer than 10 prosecutors and is one of the smaller teams in the office.

Garcia said he knew he wanted to beef up the unit even before he was named chief of the office.

He had worked in the office in the 1990s on major terrorism cases, including the trial of four men convicted and sentenced to life in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

"It wasn't something I thought we had focused on or had a lot of resources on," Garcia said.

Later, he worked for several months as acting commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and from 2003 to 2005, as assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Garcia said politics plays no role in his decisions about criminal cases.

But his investigations certainly affect politics.

Last year, former New York City police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik was charged with conspiracy, tax evasion and making false statements just as Rudy Giuliani, his friend and political patron, was in the middle of a fiercely competitive Republican presidential primary.

Giuliani, the former mayor who had held Garcia's job in the 1980s, dropped out of the race in January, his law-and-order reputation tarnished in part by his association with his former police commissioner.

Giuliani had urged President Bush to pick Kerik as his Homeland Security secretary in 2004, a nomination that foundered after revelations that Kerik had not paid all taxes for a nanny-housekeeper who may have been in the country illegally.

The resignation of Spitzer, a Democrat, was a high-water mark for an office that had suffered setbacks when Garcia first took over in August 2005.

Several major cases brought by Garcia's predecessors had imploded.

Floor specialists at the New York Stock Exchange were acquitted, a racketeering case against John A. "Junior" Gotti was abandoned after a third jury deadlocked, and obstruction of justice charges were dropped against technology banker Frank Quattrone.

Garcia blamed the setbacks on what happens when "the stars line up badly in a bunch of cases."

He is reluctant to gloat after this year's triumphs.

"After saying things are cyclical here, it's hard to turn around and say, 'No, it's all about leadership,'" he said.

[Livyjr]

"NY AG to investigate new forms of pension fraud in schools - NY AG to investigate potential pension fraud by school districts and superintendents"

Associated Press

Last updated: 3:12 p.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008

ALBANY -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says he's expanding his statewide investigation into pension fraud to include school superintendents he suspects are inappropriately getting pension benefits while collecting paychecks.

He says it's easy for school districts to abuse a waiver that allows retired superintendents to return to work while still getting a pension.

It allows them to simultaneously receive paychecks and accrue a bigger pension.

The superintendents are only allowed to be rehired if a district can find no one else competent to fill the position.

With school costs driving up New York property taxes, Cuomo says education waste, fraud and theft are major concerns across the state.

[Livyjr]

IF THESE PEOPLE ARE IN TROUBLE ....

WHY CAN'T THEY TALK TO THEIR LENDERS THEN?

THIS DEMOCRAT MORATORIUM IS NOTHING BUT SOME ELECTION YEAR HOO-HAH ....

And so ...

"Foreclosure bill stalls in Senate - Legislation passed by Assembly has shallow Republican support"

By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, May 15, 2008

ALBANY -- New York's proposed foreclosure freeze is getting a cold reception in the state Senate, to the chagrin of some Democrats.

The bill -- a response to rising foreclosure rates statewide -- sailed through the Assembly last week, but seems to have shallow support among Republican leaders in the Senate, where it may not go to a vote.

Frustrated Senate Democrats on Wednesday held a news conference to demand that Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno allow a vote on the measure.

They called the freeze a step that could keep thousands of New Yorkers in their homes by allowing them time to talk to housing experts and negotiate with lenders.

"A moratorium gives the chance for the counseling process to take place," said Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Bethlehem.

The banking industry strongly objects to the freeze, in part because the foreclosure process in New York already includes consumer protections and, at an average of 445 days, is the nation's longest.

An additional one-year moratorium would extend the foreclosure process to over two years, said Michael Smith, president and CEO of the New York Bankers Association.

And that could bring consequences -- including a tightening of borrowing requirements even for New Yorkers with strong credit.

"A moratorium would not solve the problem today and would seriously hurt the credit market for the future," Smith said.

Kieran Quinn, chairman of the national Mortgage Bankers Association, agreed, warning that the moratorium might cause some lenders to avoid New York.

Gov. David Paterson supports foreclosure legislation that does not include a moratorium.

Instead, it strengthens the state's anti-predatory-lending law, establishes a "reasonable ability to repay" standard for loans, and requires the registration of mortgage loan servicers, among other steps.

A spokesman for Bruno would say only that the senator will focus on Paterson's bill as the way to address foreclosure and mortgage problems -- suggesting dim prospects for the foreclosure moratorium.

Senate Democrats pushing for the moratorium also said they support Paterson's legislation, but said it is designed only to prevent future problems and would do little to help homeowners who already are in trouble.

They said the need for the moratorium is urgent, because thousands of adjustable-rate mortgages are scheduled to reset this year, demanding higher payments from homeowners.

Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"A rocky start for veterans project - Vietnam returnees say part of 'early intervention' message demeaning"

By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, May 15, 2008

BALLSTON SPA -- A Saratoga County project that would anticipate legal difficulties of troubled returning military members started badly after some veterans questioned its function and called part of its message demeaning.

Other veterans, however, call the "early intervention" effort by the county public defender's office important and useful.

The tangle started earlier this month when county Assistant Public Defender Van Zwisohn sent a letter to area service providers, veterans groups and attorneys, saying the public defender's office and the county district attorney's office were seeking stories of troubled Iraq and Afghanistan vets who are at risk for committing violence or crime, or suffering other problems.

The goal is to gauge the need for a program that would assist returning service members before they break the law, Zwisohn wrote in a May 1 memo.

It cited the experience of Vietnam veterans.

"Many will remember the distrust and fear that greeted many returning veterans from Vietnam when they got into legal trouble."

"The 'crazed Vietnam vet' was a caricature of young men who came back from combat with drug problems, emotional problems and adjustment problems" that made them more likely than civilians to land in court and jail, Zwisohn wrote in the opening paragraph.

Some veterans found the language insulting.

"I thought this was a slap in the face," said Bob Becker of Schenectady, a Vietnam-era Marine.

"It just makes Vietnam vets and the veterans of today look bad, saying they are crazy."

Colonie attorney Mathew Tully, who served with the New York Army National Guard at ground zero and was disabled in Iraq, urged the public defender's office to recant the letter and apologize.

He also criticized the plan's intent.

"It appears they are playing favorites with criminal law with veterans and that's a very slippery slope," said Tully.

Zwisohn could not be reached for comment.

After hearing Tully's complaints, Saratoga County Public Defender John Ciulla Jr. contacted veterans, and discovered some Vietnam vets found the letter's first paragraph offensive.

Ciulla issued an apology in a follow-up letter.

But he and Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III defended what they say are pro-active steps.

Ciulla said he hoped criticism would not derail the prospective project, part of a statewide initiative of the New York State Defenders Association called "The Military and Veterans Defense Project."

Murphy said he would not treat vets differently:

"My position is, like any criminal case, we'll evaluate all the factors which may mitigate the conduct."

John Rowan, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America New York Chapter, replied to Tully's concerns in an open e-mail.

Rowan said other cities, including Syracuse and Buffalo, have recently established "court diversion" programs for veterans so they can receive assistance.

"I find this an enlightened and far-reaching response to a serious problem," Rowan wrote.

"Unfortunately, that did not happen during the Vietnam era, and many of my comrades were incarcerated."

Dennis Yusko can be reached at 454-5353 or by e-mail at dyusko@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Water Authority to appraise lands"

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 12:16 p.m., Friday, May 16, 2008

BALLSTON SPA -- A state Supreme Court justice this morning gave the Saratoga County Water Authority two months to appraise some 20 parcels it hopes to condemn through eminent domain in order to complete its controversial $67 million water pipeline.

An attorney for the authority, Mark Schachner, told Justice Thomas Nolan that the authority has hired Latham appraisers Alvey & DiMura to value the lands on which the county hopes to lay pipe for its 26-mile pipeline from Moreau to Malta.

Schachner told the court that process could be complete within 60 days.

The county is seeking to buy easements on the lands to bury the pipe and access it in the future, but Schachner stressed that the landowners would still own the properties and have access to them, with some limitations on future uses.

"It's still their land," he said after the brief proceeding.

Nonetheless, several landowners who would be affected have raised concerns about the process, including 83-year-old Mary Zetterstrom, whose Saratoga Springs farm fields the waterline would cross.

While Zetterstrom is not outright opposed to the project, she, her family and friends worry that a berm created by burying the pipe will turn what remains of her hay and cattle farms into a swampy mess -- a lesson learned after she said a 1970s sewer project had the same effect to 11 of her acres.

They want assurances that measures would be taken to prevent that -- assurances they said were made in the 1970s with the sewer project but never kept.

Among other things, the Zetterstroms have asked the county to move the path of the new pipe closer to the old one, which they say would minimize the impact on the remaining land.

"They've cut it in half," Mary Zetterstrom said of her property, "and flooded the rest.''

Debby Zetterstrom, Mary's daughter, said their protest is not about money but the promise to preserve her mother's home and livelihood.

"If they don't protect the land, it's all for naught," she said.

Greenfield resident Will Orthwein raised questions with how the water authority has conducted itself with landowners, saying he received a letter late Thursday that led him to believe this morning's hearing had been postponed and that he arrived in court only to find out for the first time that the water authority no longer seeks to permanently condemn his land.

Nolan said what Orthwein had received was a copy of the water authority's request for a postponement, a request he said he denied in part because of the short notice.

Schachner said no legal papers have been filed formally opposing the water authority's pursuit of the lands through eminent domain.

How many people actually oppose it, if any, may not be known until after the appraisals are complete and formal compensation offers are made, he said.

With that in mind, Nolan urged the water authority to move "more quickly than not.''

"Then," the judge said, "we can figure out which cases really need to go through the litigation."

He added later: "I want to keep on top of the case to make sure those offers are made promptly."

Nolan scheduled all parties to return to court July 21 at 9 a.m.

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"Albany lawyer sues over pension probe - Roemer wants investiagtion stopped, lists memos, advisories to back up arguments"

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

Last updated: 8:59 p.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008

ALBANY - A veteran municipal lawyer filed suit in state court today, hoping to derail investigations into use of the state pension system by lawyers and to reverse decisions made against some of them.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo have been investigating lawyers statewide who they say may be improperly enrolled in the pension system because they were independent contractors, not employees.

Almost a dozen people have lost pension credits or had them suspended.

Albany lawyer James Roemer's legal complaint alleges that Cuomo has launched a "politically motivated gambit" and that DiNapoli has embarked on an "illegal and unconstitutional course of action."

In his filing in state Supreme Court in Albany County, Roemer refers to previous decisions and memos from past comptrollers about pensions or other benefits.

Roemer cites a 1940 state constitutional amendment that says that pension benefits "shall not be diminished or impaired," and his exhibits include past memos, newsletters and advisories.

Some of his arguments:

The state retirement system, not the beneficiary, "determines the eligibility," of people getting pension credits.

Rather than needing several "indicia," or conditions of employment, to prove that someone is an employee not a contractor, people need to meet only one such condition.

These "indicia" can include having a work space, being under the supervision of someone else or keeping regular hours.

The work hours for some jobs such as labor attorneys are regular but, as suggested in a 1997 comptroller's memo, that shouldn't exclude such people from retirement credits.

Independent contractors are hired for "a one-time specific job," according to a 1994 state retirement system newsletter.

That shows that school lawyers could be considered employees, Roemer said.

He also cited a story in Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, about how DiNapoli, when he was chairman of the Mineola Board of Education in the 1970s, voted to hire an outside lawyer as an employee.

The lawyer, who has since died, received retirement benefits.

While he has until recently focused on schools and BOCES organizations, Cuomo says lawyers at any of the state's thousands of government entities, including villages and sewer districts, could be wrongfully enrolled in the pension system.

Roemer draws a state pension himself and he was profiled in a 1997 Times Union story detailing how was able to use retirement systems rules to qualify for benefits.

At the time, former Comptroller Carl McCall was quoted saying the benefits appeared to be legal.

In today's suit, Roemer is representing three downstate lawyers and one from Binghamton.

All are fighting to keep or restore pensions the state is trying to take from them.

Roemer said thousands of lawyers could potentially find themselves in similar straits, so the suit is filed as a class action.

Both Cuomo and DiNapoli didn't have detailed rebuttals, but held firm in their contention that lawyers who are truly independent contractors don't deserve state pension benefits.

Cuomo spokesman John Milgrim said the AG is "quite confident that our investigation is not only legally well-founded but in the public interest."

Cuomo has maintained that just because a practice has gone on for years doesn't make it right.

DiNapoli stressed that each case is being looked at individually and decisions have been justified.

Also today, Cuomo said he was planning hearings about pension fraud with the Legislature next week and he is expanding his probe into the practice of "double dipping," in which school superintendents retire, collect a pension and then are rehired somewhere else.

Specifically, Cuomo wants to explore if the waivers that allow that practice have been abused.

[Livyjr]

"Analysis: Union-paid analyst judges labor bill's fiscal hit - Now union power in NY includes determining the cost of pro-labor bill"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:22 p.m., Friday, May 16, 2008

ALBANY -- The Assembly has stopped using an actuary who provided fiscal analysis for pro-labor legislation while being paid by labor unions.

The decision came after the New York Times reported that the actuary, whose analysis was used in bills, was shown to be paid by unions seeking the legislation.

Assembly majority spokesman Dan Weiller said the actuary, Jonathan Schwartz, will no longer be used and all the pending bills for which he provided fiscal analysis will be analyzed again to determine the public cost of the measures.

Friday's disclosure that the union-paid expert wrote the required fiscal analysis on a pro-labor bill is one of the most brazen examples of how close special interests can get to lawmakers in Albany.

The New York Times reported that the analysis showing the bill wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime was the work of a union-hired actuary.

And even he questioned his work.

Schwartz later called it a step above voodoo and said he probably got carried away when his analysis showed no cost for the bill.

His analysis has been used on several New York City pension bills in recent years.

"We assume he comes up with a real number," Assemblyman Peter Abbate, a Brooklyn Democrat who sponsored the pension bill, told the newspaper.

"He was hired by them."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who opposes the bill, had said it would cost the city $200 million.

The bill would give public employee unions another chance to buy into a lucrative early retirement offer.

Abbate didn't return a call requesting comment Friday.

"It is indefensible that the Legislature would hire a consultant with so obvious a conflict," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"It shows how Albany lawmakers just don't get it."

Some of the most memorable instances of cozy relationships with special interests had higher stakes.

In 2002, Service Employees International Union Local 1199 President Dennis Rivera joined Albany's notorious three men in a room -- the governor and Assembly and Senate leaders -- to work out a $1 billion health care reform plan that funded raises for Rivera's union members.

In exchange, Rivera, who is also a top state Hispanic leader, helped the leaders score or keep crucial political support.

But many of the costly programs in that 2002 bill continue to cost taxpayers millions today.

And in 2003, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons joined the same three men in a room to negotiate legislation that would reduce mandatory sentences under the state's Rockefeller-era drug laws.

Reforms have flowed since then that have provided earlier releases for many nonviolent drug dealers and users.

Whether the currency is millions of dollars in campaign funds or influence with the right crowds and voters, unions representing public workers and teachers have long had their way with Albany, running up tabs of billions of dollars a year along the way.

"They have developed this huge blind spot when it comes to conflicts of interest and this is just another example of it," Horner said.

"It's just mind blowing."

Weiller said he couldn't determine how often a fiscal analysis is done by someone paid by the special interest that would benefit from the bill.

But he said that doesn't matter because the Assembly Ways and Means Committee does it's own thorough fiscal analysis of bills.

The Senate's Republican majority scoffed at the policy of the other chamber, and said it requires several fiscal analyses of the numbers, including one by the Senate Finance committee.

"From our standpoint, we don't rely on any one fiscal note or actuary's estimate, particularly if comes from an interested party," said John McArdle, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

Yet, despite the flaw in the bill and the apparent conflict of interest in its fiscal premise, the Assembly and Senate majorities aren't saying they have any problem now with the pension measure.

Both houses are reviewing it, spokesmen said.

------

Michael Gormley is the Albany, N.Y., Capitol editor for The Associated Press. He can be reached by e-mail at mgormley(at)ap.org.

[Livyjr]

"Auditors find Medicaid inappropriately paid $3 million - Medicaid payments made for newborns whose mothers were enrolled in managed care plans"

Associated Press

Last updated: 1:12 p.m., Friday, May 16, 2008

ALBANY -- State auditors say about $3 million in Medicaid payments were inappropriately made over two years, mostly for newborns whose bills should have been handled instead by their family's managed care plans.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the state Health Department failed to promptly update enrollment information.

Auditors reviewed Medicaid claims for people in three managed care plans for two years ending Sept. 30, 2007.

They found 3,750 recipients whose managed care enrollment information was not properly updated in the eligibility files used to process Medicaid claims.

Some 98 percent were newborns with mothers enrolled in a managed care plan but hospitals billed Medicaid.

Auditors recommended the Health Department recover the money, noting it has already taken steps.

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On the Net:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudit...3008/07s100.pdf

[Livyjr]

"Ex-head of NY governor's security detail in apparent suicide"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 10:42 p.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008

ALBANY -- A former head of the governor's state police protection unit apparently committed suicide at his home, a state official confirmed.

Retired state police Inspector Gary Berwick, who protected former Gov. George Pataki and his family, was found dead at his home Thursday, according to a current state official and a former Pataki official.

They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case and because the death hadn't officially been announced.

"He was a wonderful man," Pataki told The Associated Press.

"My family is just devastated."

"He was an ultimate professional who put his life on the line to protect us."

"This is a person of tremendous integrity, tremendous professionalism."

Berwick had worked to protect Pataki and his family for 12 years in their home and on the job.

There was no indication Thursday that Berwick was part of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's probe into claims that a rogue unit of state troopers tailed and investigated lawmakers.

Retired for several months, Berwick left a wife and three daughters.

He was remembered by Pataki aides as a by-the-book trooper.

Cuomo is investigating accusations by 10 or more lawmakers about state police security details under Pataki and former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

That investigation includes Daniel Wiese, the former head of Pataki's security detail and a close security adviser to Spitzer.

Berwick, as a major, succeeded Wiese and ran Pataki's detail, but he retired at about the time Acting Superintendent Preston Felton resigned.

Felton had been appointed by Spitzer, and was criticized in investigative reports for his role in compiling records of Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno's use of state aircraft on days he attended GOP fundraisers.

Cuomo also is investigating the role of Spitzer's detail when the Democrat was alleged to have met with a high-priced prostitute in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.

The allegations led to his resignation March 17.

A Cuomo spokesman had no immediate comment.

In his first public comments on the Cuomo probe, Pataki rejected claims that state police did political work for governors.

"You spend 12 years with people on your detail, and I can tell you this, they are wonderful human beings," said the three-term Republican, who left office in 2006.

He then countered the claims the unnamed lawmakers made to current Democratic Gov. David Paterson, prompting the Cuomo probe.

"They did not have a rogue unit, they did not do political intelligence, they did not keep political files or spy on political figures," Pataki said.

"I can't say anything about what happened on Jan. 1, 2007, but I can tell you I am just very proud of the work they did."

"You just can't help but say a prayer for him and his family," Pataki said of Berwick.

State police were shocked at word of Berwick's death, said state Troopers Police Benevolent Association President Dan De Federicis.

"This was certainly devastating news to the state police family," he said.

"Gary was universally considered by all troopers a great man, a great person, a great state trooper, and we're just heartbroken."

[Livyjr]

"Analysis: Paterson says he'll square off with unions - David, the governor, faces twin Goliaths of public labor and the Legislature"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 2:22 p.m., Saturday, May 17, 2008

ALBANY -- New York Gov. David Paterson is taking on the fight of his political life.

He's promising to stand up to public worker unions in Albany, where their hundreds of thousands of votes and millions of dollars donated to campaigns and spent on lobbyists have given them unmatched power.

The question now is not just whether Paterson is up to the challenge, but whether it's too late.

"It can't be business as usual," Paterson said Thursday in casting doubt on unions' effort to boost benefits through the Legislature.

"This is not the time to sweeten the pot because we're about to lose the whole pot."

It was a reference to what Paterson calls "the terrible truth" of New York's fiscal health.

That includes locked-in benefits and other spending in state budgets over the last several years that prompt his projection of $21 billion in budget gaps over the next three years.

Even in a cynical place like Albany, where governors for years have made other dire predictions only to embrace bloated budgets as good compromises, Paterson is raising expectations.

On Thursday, Paterson appeared to side with fiscally tight New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg who is opposing a union lobbying effort to provide a second chance for employees to buy into a lucrative early retirement plan.

Bloomberg says it would cost the city $200 million, an estimate disputed by lawmakers and union leaders.

Now, Paterson is facing his own tests.

The Democrat is starting to see the annual string of pro-labor measures to improve pension and other benefits for unionized public workers and retirees.

Those efforts have passed with overwhelming or unanimous support in the Legislature, only to be vetoed by former governors George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer.

But Paterson, in office just three months after 20 years in the Senate's Democratic minority where he benefited from the bales of campaign contributions spread about by unions, lacks the public mandate of those who were elected to the office.

And he lacks Bloomberg's billions that would help him fight off the kind of nasty union TV ad campaign that hurt Spitzer early in his brief time in office.

Paterson, who rose from lieutenant governor when Spitzer resigned March 17 over a prostitution investigation, has also sought to rebuild bridges between the executive and legislative branches.

That, however, can be seen as a sign of weakness in the Capitol's brand of power politics.

So far, his record is mixed.

Despite forecasting a falling sky in March, he eventually supported an even greater increase in the record amount of school aid.

He also allowed the teachers' unions to attach a measure that will make it easier to get tenure, although in a slightly weakened form.

The measure prohibits school districts from using student performance on standardized tests as a measure of whether a teacher should get tenure, which provides almost lifelong job security.

But more recently, Paterson angered the United University Professions union, part of the powerful New York State United Teachers union, by giving the State University of New York about $140 million less of an increase than was sought.

University workers rallied outside the Capitol chanting, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, SUNY cuts have got to go."

They said the cut put SUNY on the road to being "dismantled."

But as with most lobbyists and activists in Albany, the demonstrators had a better sense of outrage than math.

Paterson didn't "cut" SUNY funding, which will still increase by $20 million to $4.53 billion.

That doesn't include the $3.75 billion more in capital funding and another $6 billion in capital cash committed for coming years.

And Paterson plans more as he commits to fulfilling Spitzer's promise to bring SUNY to the national fore in higher education.

The "cut" to which the unions referred was the 3.5 percent spending reduction Paterson is requiring of all agencies as revenues decline.

He said the 2009-10 budget must result in a true cut of 5 percent to 10 percent.

Paterson has another test headed his way.

The Legislature will soon send to his desk a bill that would prohibit state and local governments from trying to change generous health benefits provided to retirees.

That would take the costly item off the table in collective bargaining for at least a year while a panel considers the future of health care for retirees.

That panel, created by the Legislature, is heavily represented by labor, whose members could eventually collect the benefit.

There are no seats on the panel for representatives of local government.

So the accidental governor's trial by fire will get hotter in June, because these measures are often slipped into the final, late hours of the legislative session when few are watching.

Paterson so far hasn't let up on legislators, who would rather not be known as the people who have been raising your taxes, in one form or another, for years.

That's the cycle Paterson said he must end, this "trying to cut the same the same piece out of the pie."

"They don't understand," he said, "that there is no pie."

------

Michael Gormley is the Albany, N.Y., Capitol editor for The Associated Press. He can be reached by e-mail at mgormley(at)ap.org.

[Livyjr]

"Owning up to health perks - Two agencies acknowledge providing coverage to board members despite state rules"

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

First published: Friday, March 2, 2007

ALBANY -- The state Power Authority and Thruway Authority acknowledged Thursday the public is paying tens of thousands of dollars a year for health insurance for current and former board members who are supposed to serve without compensation.

The revelation came the day after Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said it's illegal for authorities to reward uncompensated directors with such perks.

Betsy Graham, of the Thruway Authority and Canal Corp., said three of the seven board members of the combined Thruway/Canal Corp. board make use of the perk, for family coverage: Chairman John Buono, Nancy Carey Cassidy and Jeffrey Williams.

PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK SHOULD BE ABOUT MAKING SCADS OF MONEY OFF OF THE STATE'S TAXPAYERS, WHO ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A BUNCH OF SUCKERS, SCHLUBS AND CHUMPS TO BE EXPLOITED BY THOSE IN "PUBLIC SERVICE" IN NYS ...

AND SO IT IS ...

SHEEP ARE FOR SHEARING, AFTERALL ...

AND LAMBS ARE FOR THE SLAUGHTER ...

And so ...

"Pension creates 6-figure winners - Almost 900 people, ranging from former Gov. Pataki to state officials convicted of crimes to retired cops, earn more than $100,000 a year from system"

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

First published: Sunday, May 18, 2008

ALBANY -- George M. Philip is a notable man in many ways, including the fact that his state pension is 16 times that of the public servant's.

Philip tops a list of 899 people making at least $100,000 annually from New York retirement payouts -- a list obtained by the Times Union.

The 60-year-old Burnt Hills resident receives $261,030 annually from the State and Local Retirement System run by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

He also receives another $280,000 a year in salary for his new job in academia.

In November, after ending his career at the separate State Teachers Retirement System, Philip immediately received a waiver to allow him to become interim president of the University at Albany.

Although Philip's compensation is extraordinary, he is not alone in the six-figure club.

Nor is he the only guy double-dipping.

The list of 899 pensioners receiving at least $100,000 from DiNapoli's accounts is top-heavy with former cops from Nassau and Suffolk counties, the Power Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Many of the police officers retired before their 50th birthday after piling up overtime pay that amplifies the top three earning years that drive a formula used to calculate an employee's final pension.

It also includes people who were dismissed from their jobs for dishonorable behavior, including at least three people who were found guilty of crimes committed in their public posts and another person booted from his job because of improprieties.

For instance, former Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who oversaw the $154 billion pension fund, pleaded guilty to a felony of defrauding the state government.

He's still drawing his pension of $104,123 after about 30 years of public service.

Former Power Authority lawyer Carmine J. Clemente, of Albany, who was fired last year after the attorney general and inspector general found he misused his health care benefits, is No. 25 on the list with a pension of $163,040.

He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.

Before retiring, he misused more than $21,000 by claiming his ex-wife on his health policy, investigators said.

His brother, Michael Clemente, was fired from his post as general manager of the State University of New York Construction Fund in 2002 after state investigators found he violated contract rules to help a distant relative of Gov. George Pataki's.

After his dismissal, he was hired by Senate Republicans as a budget officer and built more years of credits.

His pension: $111,473.

At least four former heads of Off Track Betting Corp. are on the list, including one who's public career ended in dishonor and a criminal conviction -- Capital District OTB founder Davis Etkin of Schenectady is No. 296, getting $116,217 a year.

Etkin's guilty plea in 2000 to treating himself to OTB assets and attempting to bribe a witness who was to testify against him followed an investigation into his lavish spending and questionable use of $4 million while at the helm of the Schenectady-based betting operation.

Other former OTB heads on the list include Donald Groth, of Catskill OTB, at $115,442; Joseph Mondello, the state GOP leader, from Nassau OTB, at $111,697; and his successor at the post, another Republican politician from the county, Gregory Peterson, at $116,188.

Groth just recently retired at age 65.

He remains as the head of the OTB making $219,000 annually because, he says, he's got a lot of unfinished business to accomplish in Albany, lobbying for changes to betting laws, before exiting.

"I've been very good to OTB, but it was a two-way street," Groth said.

"When you've invested 40 years in something, there should be some return."

No. 241 on the list is Albany attorney James W. Roemer Jr.

The 63-year-old lawyer retired in 2001 with a $119,874 pension.

His package came together from credits for part-time employment with municipalities, including Utica and Schenectady, despite being a private attorney.

Roemer filed a class-action lawsuit last week aimed at blocking Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and DiNapoli from stripping pension credits from lawyers.

At No. 812, George Pataki is the only ex-governor on the list, at $101,200 a year.

Some of his lieutenants and aides, such as former director of operations James Natoli, No. 181 with $124,002, and Maryanne Gridley, No. 107 with $133,054, also made the list.

Pataki beefed up pay for commissioners, directors and himself during his 12-year tenure, helping all to build their pension nests.

No. 546 is John L. Buono, who served as Hudson Valley Community College's $170,000 per-year president until retiring from the post at the end of 2003 at age 60.

HVCC kept him on another year as a consultant.

That made him able to collect a pension at the same time as his post-retirement consulting fee of $170,000.

After three decades of paid public service -- including stints as Rensselaer County executive and head of the state Dormitory Authority -- he remains as the Pataki-appointed chairman of the Thruway Authority and last month voted to increase tolls.

Although the post doesn't include a salary, his pension of $107,315 provides income.

A top former Senate aide, Kenneth Riddett, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno's top lawyer for years, was also high on the list, receiving $136,748.

He had a long public career and Bruno bumped his pay up shortly before he retired two years ago to become a lobbyist.

Cuomo said it may be worth considering penalizing criminals who stole from the state with forfeiture of pensions, but said that would require a constitutional amendment.

Stephen Madarasz, a spokesman for the Civil Service Employees Association, said CSEA wouldn't mind seeing criminals stripped of pensions.

He said he believes that change could be made by statute.

Others note that police officers and firefighters are enjoying substantial pensions thanks to the overtime they get and that should be changed.

Keith Brainard, research director of National Association of State Retirement Administrators, said New York's pension formula isn't out of whack.

It offers 2 percent of pay for each year, 1.66 percent for those who don't make it to 20 years.

The average multiplier for public pensions nationwide is 1.85, Brainard said.

"I suspect a large proportion of those officers getting a six-figure pension worked a lot of overtime," he said.

"If the (Legislature) in its infinite wisdom chose to change that, it could."

Assembly Government Employees Committee Chairman Peter Abbate, D-Brooklyn, said he doesn't like taking away benefits.

People enter public service jobs counting on overtime and constitutionally protected pensions as part of their compensation, he said.

Cops in many agencies can retire with full benefits after 20 years.

Some work 80 hours a week for long periods during their last few years to build up pensions, according to employers such as the Port Authority.

"The mayors and county executives complain that pensions cost so much," Abbate said.

"They should direct their chiefs of police or police commissioners not to offer them overtime."

"The Port Authority thinks they're going to save money by not hiring people, so what happens?"

"They force overtime taken by their more senior members."

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, a Democrat who has tried to cut police expenses, said he isn't happy seeing so many of his former officers on the list of the highest paid pensioners, several in the $150,000-a-year club.

"It's an outrageous abuse," he said.

"It's unconscionable how much they make in salaries in the first place, but then it's the cost of pension payments."

There are 350,000 people receiving retirement checks from the public pension system.

The average benefit is $16,202 for most state workers, $35,877 for police and fire retirees.

At $261,037, Philip, whose pension tops the list, said he worked 38 years to put together his nest egg.

The sum was calculated based on the average of the highest three years of salary times the number of years in the system and the multiplier.

"Not too many of my colleagues worked in public service so many years," he said, adding that he held the jobs of CEO and chief investment officer.

He suggested he was underpaid at $379,600 while overseeing a $105 billion pension fund.

The state Legislature helped him.

In 2000, it sweetened the pensions for public workers by setting up automatic cost-of-living increases, the discontinuation of 3 percent co-pays for any worker with 10 years of service and two extra years of service credit for the older members of the system who never had to contribute to their pensions, such as Philip.

Bottom line, he got 79 percent of his final average salary.

He said he hopes his interim gig at UAlbany ends soon, so he can actually be retired.

But if the school needs him, he said he'll apply for another waiver that allows him to keep working, and collecting a paycheck.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Ex-head of NY governor's security detail in apparent suicide"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 10:42 p.m., Thursday, May 15, 2008

ALBANY -- A former head of the governor's state police protection unit apparently committed suicide at his home, a state official confirmed.

Retired state police Inspector Gary Berwick, who protected former Gov. George Pataki and his family, was found dead at his home Thursday, according to a current state official and a former Pataki official.

There was no indication Thursday that Berwick was part of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's probe into claims that a rogue unit of state troopers tailed and investigated lawmakers.

"Questions awaited retired trooper - Former State Police major who committed suicide was part of probes into executive security detail"

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

First published: Saturday, May 17, 2008

ALBANY -- The retired State Police major who hanged himself in Orange County Thursday was described by friends and associates as a person who took his job seriously; he also obtained representation by a police-union lawyer recently amid probes of the executive security unit he led.

Gary Berwick, who was in charge of the security detail for former Govs. George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer, was expected to be contacted by the U.S. attorney's office and his former agency in separate inquiries probing what Spitzer's security detail knew about his patronage of prostitutes, according to law enforcement officials.

State Police Superintendent Harry Corbitt pledged to look into the issue when he was confirmed by the state Senate last month, and officials have said the Manhattan-based U.S. attorney for the Southern District, Michael Garcia, is considering charges against Spitzer.

Berwick, 48, was a protege of Daniel Wiese, his predecessor as executive security chief.

Wiese's activities as a State Police official and later as the New York Power Authority's security chief are expected to be looked at by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office in a separate investigation triggered by suspicions by Senate Republicans and Democratic Gov. David Paterson of political spying by some officers within the State Police.

Berwick, who is survived by his wife and three daughters, retired this spring at around the same time as Acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton.

In his first public comments on the Cuomo probe, Pataki rejected claims that State Police did political work for governors.

"You spend 12 years with people on your detail, and I can tell you this -- they are wonderful human beings," Pataki said Thursday.

He then countered the claims ten unnamed lawmakers made to Paterson, prompting the attorney general's probe.

"They did not have a rogue unit, they did not do political intelligence, they did not keep political files or spy on political figures," Pataki said.

"I can't say anything about what happened on Jan. 1, 2007, but I can tell you I am just very proud of the work they did," said Pataki, who left office at the end of 2006.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.