Nassau Dems want U.S. probe of arrested witness

[onthejob]

Nassau Dems want U.S. probe of arrested witness
December 16, 2013 by LAURA FIGUEROA / [e-mail]


Nassau legislative Democrats are calling on the U.S. attorney's office to investigate the arrest of a witness in a politically charged court case that led to the ouster of county Police Commissioner Thomas Dale.

At a news conference Monday in Mineola, minority leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) said the Democratic caucus planned to submit a formal request to the U.S. attorney's office to probe the circumstances leading up to the arrest in October of Randy White, 29, of Roosevelt. White was a witness in a trial to determine if former Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick could run for Nassau County executive.

A report released Thursday by Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice described White's arrest on Oct. 5 at the direction of Dale, "politically motivated policing."


"We cannot tolerate any abuse of power or any intimidation of witnesses," Abrahams said.

In a phone interview, U.S. attorney's office spokesman Robert Nardoza declined to comment, noting that the office typically cannot confirm or deny whether an investigation is taking place.

Abrahams and other Democrats also called on the Republican majority in the county Legislature to schedule hearings into White's arrest and any abuses of power that may have occurred.

But Presiding Officer Norma L. Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) said she would not call for legislative hearings.

"District Attorney Rice's investigation is complete and the contents of her report have been made public," Gonsalves said in a statement. "No criminality was found. The next order of business for this Legislature is to confirm a new Police Commissioner to aggressively oversee the operations of the Police Department."

The district attorney's probe resulted in Dale being forced from his post by Mangano, who had appointed him to lead the department in January 2012.

Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin did not immediately return a request for comment.

Legis. Carrié Solages (D-Elmont) said he hoped the U.S. attorney's office would intervene and provide an independent perspective.

"This is about the civil rights of a young man that were stepped on and violated," Solages said. "We cannot allow this to just be swept under the rug."

A group of about 20 community activists and Democratic supporters from Hempstead and Roosevelt attended the news conference, as Solages urged community leaders to "stand up and speak up" the legislature hold hearings on the case.

Male Timmons, president of the Adams Court Tenants Association in Hempstead, said he planned to attend future legislative meetings to press for hearings.

"I would hope they pursue this in federal court," Timmons said. "This isn't a black or white issue, this is about preserving civil rights."

[doughnut]

Geeeeee I can't see this slowing down the "deal". This jobs become a fvcking joke!

[overthecap]

Oct 8 article.

What say you?

Andrew Hardwick gets thousands from Oheka's Gary Melius
Originally published: October 8, 2013 10:11 PM
Updated: October 8, 2013 11:36 PM
By ROBERT BRODSKY [e-mail]


Photo credit: Howard Schnapp | Andrew Hardwick, candidate for Nassau County executive, attends a hearing at the Nassau County courthouse in Mineola. (Oct. 8, 2013)

Andrew Hardwick runs for Nassau County executive Andrew Hardwick, who wants to run for Nassau County executive on the new "We Count" ballot line, received more than $23,000 in contributions from July 26 through Sept. 5, all from Gary Melius, the owner of the Oheka Castle catering hall in Huntington, state records show.

Hardwick, former Freeport mayor, testified last week at a Nassau State Supreme Court hearing on challenges to his petitions that he was unaware who gave money to his campaign. But in court Tuesday, Democratic Party attorney Steve Schlesinger accused Hardwick of lying, claiming he was aware Melius had bankrolled his entire campaign.

Nassau Supreme Court Judge Dana Winslow is expected to decide this week whether to allow Hardwick on the ballot, after the county's Democratic and GOP Board of Elections commissioners deadlocked on approving thousands of signatures. Hardwick needs 1,500 to get on the ballot.

At a news conference in Mineola after the hearing, Hardwick said he was "not worried" about who gave money to his campaign. "It was not my concern," he said. "I am grateful someone has been giving." Hardwick also verbally sparred with Schlesinger and charged that Thomas Suozzi, the Democratic nominee for county executive, was neglecting minority voters.

Democrats have accused Melius of propping up Hardwick's campaign to siphon minority votes from Suozzi and help re-elect GOP County Executive Edward Mangano. "This is a phony campaign designed to mislead the people," Schlesinger said.

"It is an absolute fraud upon the minority community that Andrew Hardwick's campaign's only supporter is a high-profile Mangano fundraiser who operates out of a castle on the North Shore," said Nassau Democratic Party vice chairwoman Andrena Wyatt.

Melius in an interview said he was "close friends" with Mangano and Hardwick and had contributed to both their campaigns. "[Hardwick] asked me for my help," Melius said. "And, I said I would help raise some money."

Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin said the campaign was not working in concert with Hardwick. "This is more lies and outrageous accusations from Tom Suozzi's lawyer, who will do anything to help his client hide a record of double-digit property tax hikes and wasteful spending," Nevin said.

Campaign filings released Tuesday show Melius was the only donor to Hardwick's campaign, giving five contributions totaling $23,138. Hardwick's campaign also spent nearly $23,000, primarily for individuals hired to collect ballot signatures, the filing shows. Hardwick has only $224 in his campaign account.

Last year, Melius sold 4 acres of the former Brooklyn Water Works in Freeport to Nassau for $6.2 million. County officials said the purchase, which Hardwick lobbied for as mayor, was to benefit open space.

Melius had not been able to win approval for any development proposal after he purchased the land from the county in 1986 for $1.4 million.

Hardwick collected 8,411 signatures to run for county executive. But Board of Elections commissioners found 2,713 signatures were invalid; 316 signatures were found valid and they split on 3,233 other signatures. Democratic election officials also are alleging that 2,149 other signatures were possible forgeries. The court must decide on those claims.

[redstone14]

"What did the President know, and when did he know it?"

I remember that line from a long time ago. It somehow seems appropriate in this case. Just substitute another current government official's title in the place of "President".

[onthejob]

www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/dems-pull-job-offer-to-father-of-witness-in-political-dispute-1.6641808
Dems pull job offer to father of witness in political dispute
December 19, 2013 by ROBERT BRODSKY / [e-mail]


Democrats at the Nassau Board of Elections this week tried to hire the father of the central figure in a political controversy that brought down the police commissioner, but pulled back the job offer after party attorneys argued that it created perception problems, officials said.

Nassau Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs said E. Rassan Hoskins, of Hempstead, is an old friend who is "down on his luck" and had been asking for a county job for more than a year.

The board laid off a handful of employees earlier in the week in a post-election shuffle, opening a spot for Hoskins as a $40,000-per-year research aide, Jacobs said.

Personnel documents obtained by Newsday show that a request to hire Hoskins was submitted on Tuesday -- five days after Police Commissioner Thomas Dale resigned -- with an expected start date of Dec. 27.

But Jacobs said party attorneys quickly scuttled the hire, arguing it would create "perception problems."

"This was not an issue where we were caught with our hand in the cookie jar. I knew it would look terrible and therefore decided not to go through with it," Jacobs said.

Hoskins, a Democratic committeeman, said he asked Jacobs for a job about 18 months ago but was unaware the party had made a decision. "I don't think I did anything that should have affected my ability to earn a living," Hoskins said.

Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner William Biamonte was on vacation and not reachable for comment.

Hoskins' son, Randy White, of Roosevelt, found himself at the center of a series of events that led to Dale's resignation last week.

White, 29, was hired to collect signatures for the campaign of former Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick, who was attempting to wage a third-party bid for county executive.

In October, White testified in court that Hardwick had illegally paid him for each signature he had collected. The disclosure helped scuttle Hardwick's bid to get on the ballot.

Days later, Gary Melius, owner of the Oheka Castle catering hall in Huntington and the lone donor to Hardwick's campaign, called Dale and said the campaign wanted to file a perjury charge against White, according to a report released last week by Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

After police failed to find sufficient evidence to file a perjury charge, Dale directed officers to pull White off a county bus and arrest him on an outstanding warrant for not paying a $250 civil fine, the report said.

Rice found that Dale did not commit a crime and that Republican County Executive Edward Mangano was not aware of the plan.

Jacobs, who believes Dale should have been charged with witness tampering, said the decision to hire Hoskins was made prior to the bus incident. He said the board typically makes personnel changes after the November election -- which was won by Mangano -- and that the timing of Hoskins' attempted hire was "unfortunate and coincidental."

But Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin said the job offer can appear to be a quid pro quo for White's testimony against Hardwick.

"Given the appearance of a political payoff in exchange for favoring testimony from the Mr. Hoskins son, I wonder if Democrat party boss Jay Jacobs will call upon prosecutors to investigate himself," Nevin said.

Jacobs said the attempted hire of Hoskins "doesn't change the fact that a crime was committed and there was an abuse of police authority."

With Matthew Chayes

[redstone14]

County politics and incestuous relationships, is there any difference?