Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas had it right when she called the hiring of a compliance chief to improve accountability in the county’s contracting by Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s administration “woefully inadequate.”
Joseph LaRussa, a 53-year Hauppague resident without ties to Mangano, appeared to be a reasonable choice for the $120,000-year-job created in the wake of several county contracting scandals,
LaRussa had come to the administration through a public job posting and had no ties to Mangano.
But this was not the time to hire another department head. And now we learn LaRussa was not the right person to hire.
He turned down the job on Tuesday after the administration asked him to explain an “inconsistency” on his resume.
Yes, the person the county hired to clean up its contracting mess needed cleaning up before he stated the job.
Both Singas and Democratic Nassau County legislators had already pointed out that LaRussa lacked both the independence and the power to do the job.
They called for the creation of a separate inspector general’s office with subpoena power headed by someone selected by a bipartisan panel and confirmed by a supermajority of county legislators.
Singas had launched an investigation into country contracting practices after the indictments of former state Sent. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) on federal corruption charges, including influencing the awarding of a Nassau County contract to a firm that hired his son, Adam. Both were later convicted of the charges and are appealing.
In a report in July 15, she found “troubling problems” in the county contracting process, including no requirements for vendors to disclose subsidiary companies, criminal convictions, political contributions or whether a vendor is barred from government contracts in other places.
Her office, she said, found an unspecified contractor with ties to organized crime, a contractor barred from doing business in another jurisdiction and a convicted felon with a bankruptcy.
Mangano and his staff were involved with the awarding of the contract that led to the conviction of Skelos and his son.
While no charges were filed against anyone working for the county, the fact is that Skelos was successful in getting the contract awarded.
Adding further doubt to leaving oversight of country contracts to Mangano is an ongoing investigation by federal prosecutors of Mangano’s chief deputy, Rob Walker, for a contract awarded to a firm that donated to Walker’s political club on the day he finalized the deal.
Then throw in the hundreds of no-bid contracts to politically connected firms for amount just under the legislative approval threshold of $25,000.
This is not the time for half-way measures. But that is what Mangano has offered so far.
Perhaps this latest episode will persuade him to do the right job.
