Anti Suozzi Editorial? What is Going On?

[Newsday Watcher]

Suozzi Should Keep 'Open Government' Promise


January 20, 2004

Timing is everything. And a brouhaha over the too-broad and conflicting language in the confidentiality agreements that Nassau County requires employees to sign couldn't have come at a worse time.

A story in Saturday's Newsday reported that the administration of County Executive Thomas Suozzi is requiring new employees to sign confidentiality agreements that bar them from disclosing "all information used in the conduct of county affairs."

Yes, the policy may be more than 18 months old, as administration officials said yesterday. And, yes, it looks to be a sloppy update of a 1984 confidentiality policy. But it still can be viewed as a case of the Suozzi administration, which came in on the promise of open government, telling employees to keep their mouths shut.

And that's where the bad timing barges right in. Suozzi's economic development cluster, which has been tainted by disclosures of mismanagement and improper spending, is slated to be the subject of legislative hearings tomorrow and Friday.

Last month, two county employees filed suit, alleging they were fired for blowing the whistle on wrongdoings involving economic development. And a report by the legislature's independent office of budget review this week notes that two other employees who willingly cooperated with the office clammed up after talking to the county attorney, and that a third who drafted an account of her actions said it was rejected and redrafted by the county attorney. Add to that a news story about the confidentiality policy and it creates the impression that Nassau employees are being gagged.

Yesterday, Suozzi said that's not so. He also said he did not know about the flawed confidentiality policy and that it will be changed. Suozzi said he is committed to open government in Nassau. We hope that remains the case.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

[The Gag Order]

and his hench people. If you work there, you wanna gag! (get it?)

[Tell the truth-OHIA emplo]

THat sounds like the new mantra. I had n0 idea, I did not know, I was in Disneyland.

That's just poor managemment, especially for a control freak that knows where every open position is.

No cry towels here, I did not know seems more like Teflon Tony than Sir Thomas of Tandrum.

[Yes, looks like it...]

The confidentiality agreement, and prepared statement for Dews, wreek of the odor of Doone.

[Going Down Memory Lane]

Tom Williams and Pellegrini (Civil Service Commission)

Suozzi Going after Weisenberg - the most beloved guy in Long Beach

The Oceanside Hotel deal

3 Plasma TV's in the County Executive's Office at a cost of $15,000

Suozzi admitting "I'm not a big thinker" - remember that article?

Eliminating funds from the Coalition for Child Abuse's Domestic Violence Team.

[U wish we'd forgotten]

All of the dirt is finally being exposed on the Suozzi Administration. Illegal practices, patronage, etc. Which Tom is this? Politics as usual at 1 West. Read below.

Nassau Civil Service Boss Fired

By Celeste Hadrick
STAFF WRITER

November 11, 2003


Thomas Williams, a lawyer named executive director of the Nassau Civil Service Commission less than a year ago on the recommendation of County Executive Thomas Suozzi, was fired yesterday after several clashes with the administration.

Williams said he believed he was fired because he discovered the administration was diverting federal grant money from the Office of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs to pay salaries of workers in various units of the county executive's office.

"That's illegal," Williams said. "They were doing work that was not federal grant work."

But Chief Deputy County Attorney Liz Botwin, speaking for the administration, denied any illegality. She said Williams was "let go by the commission because of numerous problems with his management style and his inability to work with the many governments that use the civil service commission."

Williams' termination from the $115,000-a-year job is effective immediately, county officials said.

Numerous county sources said William Geier, a disbarred attorney who is Suozzi's $82,000-a-year liaison to the county legislature, was expected to be named acting director. But the commission took no action yesterday on a replacement, Botwin said.

Meeting behind closed doors in the civil service commission's Hempstead office, Democratic-appointed Commissioners James Demos and David Gugerty voted to fire Williams after citing several letters from school districts and local governments complaining about difficulties working with him.

The letters were written within the past five days and were addressed to Suozzi or his chief deputy Anthony Cancellieri, not to the commission; two letters were dated yesterday, Williams said.

"The wording was remarkably similar, some of the same phraseology," Williams said. He said one of the letters dated yesterday was signed by a woman with whom he never had spoken.

Commissioner John Senko, a Republican, voted against firing Williams. After the meeting, Williams said he was "exploring my options."

The Nassau Civil Service commission oversees the hiring of all civil service employees in all local governments, except for Hempstead Town, which has its own civil service commission.

Williams, a former Suozzi supporter, had developed a reputation as difficult among Suozzi's inner circle by bucking their hiring suggestions and holding the administration to the letter of the civil service law.

Most recently, the commission voted for Williams's recommendation to stop paying three employees of the treasurer's department who were working out of title until they returned to their actual positions.

Geier, a former Not Allowed mayor, was disbarred in 2000 for dipping into clients' escrow funds. He said his misconduct occurred under emotional circumstances and he had made full restitution.



How do you like it when Newsday runs an honest story? Look, a Civil Service Commissioner is supposed to be like a traffic cop who sometimes has to say "no" to the wishes and desires of public officials who want to hire their own people. Conflict with "other governments" to me at least sounds like he is doing the job. But I am an ordinary citizen, and you're the insider Main Street, so you do have the advantage.

As an outsider, I must relying solely upon a story written by a reporter who is Newsday's beat reporter for Nassau County Government.

And by the way, disbarred means disbarred. When Joe Cairo was disbarred he immediately stepped down as Commissioner of the Board of Elections. So yes, let's discuss Cairo. Cairo could have easily used his political muscle to retain his position, but instead left the Board of Elections gracefully, rather than seeking a high profile position of trust in the government. Newsday reports that Geier dipped into an escrow. By defintion he should not be trusted with any fiduciary obligations. But you're too partisan to figure this one out. Indeed, you should change your screen name to Lemmiwinks the Gerbil.

Your boy made a big mistake. And if I was indeed incorrect and Geier is currently a registered Democrat and a disbarred Suozzi Appointee, the stink is even greater. At least as a registered Republican, he would have had the veneer of bi-partisanship required to be a neutral and detached commissioner, a Republican serving in a Democratic Administration. Again, I apologize for even thinking that Suozzi's action even made a scintilla of sense. I will not make that mistake again. Lol

Posts: 79


It will be interesting to hear Williams's side as this story unravels..

It's morally wrong for the C.E. to appoint a lawyer who stole money from his clients.

Regardless of Williams being a Hack (prev. posts) and Cairo - to have a man like Geier in Mineola is bad. This guy would not be able to find a job in the provate sector with a record like that... If Tom wants to run this county like a business he should hire people who have CLEAN records...

[Suozzi Man Of Pipe Dreams]

Tuesday, October 25, 2005
A flip flop for the ages: Suozzi on 60 story tower: "I'm not attracted to it right now."

My friends, last night, at a debate with Greg Peterson, Tom Suozzi completely flip flopped on his joint assault on Suburbia plans with Charles Wang. He also got hammered into the ground by a man who is his senior intellectually and substantively.

A spirited exchange - Michael Rothfeld


Suozzi, a Democrat, said for the first time that he "wouldn't really like
to see a 60-story tower" at the redeveloped site of the Nassau Coliseum, backing
away from the controversial centerpiece of a proposed deal he reached a year ago
with Islanders owner Charles Wang."

I'm not attracted to it right now," Suozzi said.

Oh, really, Mr. County Executive? Do you really think that you are fooling anyone with even a modicum of memory capacity? I thought this proposal was the "Best deal" For Nassau County residents, which is why you tried so hard to block any competitive bidding on the land?
What happened to all that? Are you saying that this was not the best deal, and that you were lying to Nassau County residents? For shame.

Well, folks, I am glad to that Tom Suozzi finally recognizes his 68 story tower idea for the disaster that it is: A strike at the heart of Suburbia that our parents and grandparents worked so hard to build. And now, they still work, in order to pay the taxes that Tom Suozzi and his legislative cohorts impose.

Lets be clear, folks: this is a colossal flip-flop. This is the true mark of how phony and pandering this man is. He will say or do anything in order to get re-elected. And he would not have said this folks, unless there was a poll out there that told him he had to. You see, folks, GOP advertising is having a significant effect in Tom Suozzis' democrats, with their poll numbers consistently falling, as the GOPs is consistenty rising. As we have told you, Peterson is behind by no more than 10 points. GOP legislative candidates are in a dead heat in swing districts, with Challengers Tom Sabellico and Jeff Katz poised to take out their opponents.

Suozzi is well aware of all this. And, he is flipping out. that is what this sudden position change is all about.
So, lets keep him honest. Call for Tom Suozzi to throw out the Coliseum bidding process, and start over fresh. And this time, lets not have any 68 story towers in the mix.