The Bureaucratic Shuffle – potential fraud in East Greenbush, New York government

This week, I was visited by a concerned citizen of East Greenbush, New York – a suburb of Albany, New York. He brought me a package of information alleging wrong-doing by East Greenbush government officials – about $500,000, based on the work he and several other people produced.

This individual was a former auditor and some of the people working with him were former town officials – so they have some credibility.

I reviewed the material and it was believable. More work needs to be done to determine if in fact fraud has occurred, tax dollars were wasted or if in fact, these are legitimate transactions – but didn’t (or did) comply with the town laws.

For example, one town employee was paid over $170,000 to be a “town consultant.” The person submitted vouchers for the supposed work done, but was not paid as an independent contractor. Instead, he was paid as an employee. On the surface, something is fundamentally wrong with this.

If you’re a consultant, unless you have some special expertise that justifies a sole source contract, this work should have been competitively bid.

More importantly, favored individuals shouldn’t be getting government business. State and municipal law require all vendors get a fair opportunity to get government’s business.

But why pay him as an employee and incur additional payroll costs? The less expensive way is to pay him as the independent contractor he seemed to be from the vouchers he submitted (employees don't submit vouchers, contractors do).

The town incurred additional payroll taxes and pension contributions that were unnecessary by paying him as an employee.

On January 17, 2011, these citizens wrote to the Governor’s office requesting his assistance in this matter. He must have referred it to the Attorney General’s Office because on February 24, 2011, these citizens received a call from that office requesting they compile a summary of the issues, along with related documentation, and send it to the attention of the Office of the State Comptroller.

A letter and supporting documentation was sent on March 2, 2011.

This is called the bureaucratic shuffle – no one wants to take responsibility to hold anyone accountable for the wrong-doing that might have occurred.

The March 2 letter to the State Comptroller’s Office has gone unanswered more than six-months later. It was a detailed letter with supporting documents that would have caused me to act affirmatively in pursuing the matter.

Prior to the letter going to the State Comptroller’s Office, the press reported on the matter and actually called for a further investigation by the State Comptroller’s Office – this simply hasn’t happened.

Democracy depends on citizens having reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context. That has not occurred in this case.

Something is fundamentally wrong when concerned and involved citizens cannot get oversight agencies and the media to properly investigate allegations of wrongdoing. A proper investigation includes accurate verification of the facts, an understanding of the underlying causes of the problem and an ultimate resolution to assure internal controls are in place to minimize the possibility of similar wrong-doing in the future.

But, from a common decency perspective, these citizens deserved a response from the State Comptroller’s Office. There may be valid reasons this issue isn’t being pursued, but those reasons should be explained to them so they can decide on their own future course of action.

These citizens believe the real reason no action is being taken is the political connections that exist between the players in the various State government and town offices.

If that is correct - someone has sold their soul. And that’s too bad for all the citizens of New York State.