New York transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from New York.
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| Report It • | The Good • | The Bad • | The Ugly | |
The 20-count indictment that the court charged to Novello, a former U.S. surgeon general, involved using state workers to run errands, to taker on shopping sprees, and to act as servants in her home, New York Daily News reports.[1]
Albany District Attorney David Soares negotiated the plea bargain, resulting in pleading guilty to one count of a felony for offering a false instrument for filing.
Her formal sentencing was to be August 14, but the plea bargain requires she pay the state $22,500 in restitution. Novello must also complete 250 hours of community service at an Albany health clinic and pay a $5,000 fine. Noncompliance will result in up to four years in prison, but Novello can keep her medical license at this point.
The former Health Commissioner didn't speak to reporters Friday, but her lawyer, E. Stewart Jones, said that he still believed the matter should never have been in court, the New York Daily News reports.[1]
"Islip's deputy public works commissioner has resigned and two department managers have been suspended after, town officials say, they played golf and went on at least one boating excursion during work hours and used town-issued vehicles for the personal trips.
Newsday had submitted a Freedom of Information request in February for the GPS records of town vehicles driven by the four men, and the town launched its own investigation."
"Local practices that have kept critical state civil court documents out of the public record in Monroe County and elsewhere in the state should be corrected by summer, the state's chief administrative judge said last week.
Addressing the issue more than two months after the state Office of Court Administration had claimed the filing lapses would be remedied within weeks, Judge Ann Pfau said in a telephone interview that a committee of judges and county and court clerks from across the state is working toward a resolution."
"When the State Attorney General's Office launched its new Web site Project Sunlight in 2007, it served as a most useful tool for those who wanted to find out what their state representatives were up to.
It provided information about legislation, voting records, lobbyist connections, government contracts and more. All of this information was, and is, available to the public through other means, but the attorney general's new Web site made searches that much easier."
"So there you have it, Albany: How and why people get their parking tickets excused, forgiven, fixed or whatever word you choose, is none of your business, according to Albany City Treasurer Betty Barnette.
It's a matter of medical privacy, you see.
That's right, Ms. Barnette and her lawyer, Brian Devane, offer what must surely be one of the most creative and lame excuses for secrecy ever to come out of City Hall in refusing to give the Common Council access to the written explanations that drivers use to get out of parking tickets."
"The top 50 wage earners in the town of Clarkstown worked for the police department and collectively made about $10 million in 2008.
The highest paid among them was Capt. Thomas Purtill, who earned $335,676.88 in 2008 while working two days a week because of a disability. Purtill, who retired in March after 35 years in the police department, spent three days a week receiving physical therapy."
"Five town attorneys in the region have been collecting credits toward public pensions as though they were full-time town employees, even though each also works for a private practice or represents more than one municipal client.
Public records obtained by the Times Herald-Record show that the towns that employ these lawyers regularly credit them with full-time service when submitting monthly reports to the New York State and Local Retirement System, the taxpayer-funded pension plan for public employees."
"It might become one of the more popular features on the city’s Web site. Internet surfers are now able to find out the base salaries of most city employees. By early summer, the site will also disclose how much overtime each worker made in the fiscal year that ends June 30.
But Mayor Byron W. Brown’s new initiative has infuriated the fire union, which is threatening to sue him for harassment."
"The town's top earner last year wasn't its top-salaried employee, and he didn't receive a penny of overtime pay.
Records provided by the town put police Lt. Richard Malan, a 36-year veteran, ahead of the town supervisor and every department head, including his own chief, with total compensation for 2008 of $140,931. That includes nearly $48,000 beyond his regular salary, including retroactive pay increases."
"Draft disciplinary charges that were part of a dispute between former Schools Superintendent Debra Jackson and the school board do not need to be disclosed, a judge has ruled.
But acting Supreme Court Justice Barbara G. Zambelli also said in her March 31 decision that the district must release any other documents related to the dispute - as long as there's not a legitimate reason those records can be exempt from public disclosure."
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