POLITICS & POWER
Former Nassau OTB president Larry Aaronson got politically whacked last
week on the third-floor mezzanine usually reserved for high rollers in the
$14-million betting emporium he created, and which nets the agency much of its
profits.
Aaronson's ouster came at the hands of two of three OTB board members, one
a campaign photographer for County Executive Thomas Suozzi, the other a
bookkeeper and bus dispatcher for Nassau Democratic leader Jay Jacobs'
business. Neither gave a reason for Aaronson's dismissal from the $300-million
agency, nor did they have a resume for his replacement, Dino Amoroso, chief
aide to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.
Afterward, Aaronson blamed his firing on politics, specifically Suozzi's
unstated gubernatorial ambitions and the need to bring Nassau's most Democratic
town, North Hempstead, in line for the county executive.
"At the very least, they are operating a cult of intimidation," said
Aaronson, an ally of Assemb. Thomas DiNapoli (D-Thomaston), who wants to be the
running mate of gubernatorial front-runner Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
Jacobs tried to put a reform spin on the ouster: "We are removing a person
who is a former Democratic leader and putting in someone who has been a
non-political prosecutor and a proven manager. In what perversion of logic are
we making a political move?"
However, legislative Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) said the
move "sent shock waves." She added: "But when the smokes clears, it's all
politics 101."
She also doesn't see how the move helps Suozzi. "I don't see how this helps
make friends," she said.
But Legis. Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) said the move shows Suozzi "is
planning to run his gubernatorial campaign with taxpayers' dollars."
Party leader Jacobs would not specify what Aaronson did wrong, saying only,
"When you start to run a shop like you own it, it's a problem." In the past
year, Aaronson got the board to raise his pay more than $30,000, to $198,500,
and earlier got a severance package that will now pay him a year's salary.
But party sources said Jay Jacobs also was upset that Aaronson was too cozy
with Republican holdovers who worked for opponents of Suozzi and Legis. David
Mejias (D-Farmingdale). They also said Jacobs felt the OTB boss worked behind
the scenes to back losing Democratic primary challenger Rocco Iannarelli for
county clerk and hosted a soiree for DiNapoli supporters at the Race Palace
without informing him. "Boy, are they reaching," Aaronson said later.
Aaronson backers privately fear the ouster will lead to further purges,
making OTB a swap shop where Suozzi could trade support for jobs and create a
repository for campaign operatives. They said Amoroso's appointment is an
attempt to win allies in Brooklyn.
However, Jay Jacobs said he has no plans for wholesale firings and
dismissed any political motives for hiring Amoroso, noting that Hynes just
prosecuted former Brooklyn Democratic leader Clarence Norman and has few ties
to the party organization.
But such worries are not lost on Democratic lawmakers still smarting over
misdeeds of former Suozzi aide Peter Sylver and Parks Department appointees who
submitted bogus time sheets.
OTB board chairman Christopher Wright, an Aaronson ally who resigned in
protest, said county lawmakers should consider overhauling the whole board the
way state lawmakers originally intended - with two board members from the party
that controls the legislature and one from the minority party. It is a dictum
both parties have skirted for decades.
County lawmakers meet today, but chances of a board overhaul are a
long-shot because the presiding officer would have to agree to put the issue on
the agenda or it would require 13 votes to pass as an emergency resolution.
"I don't think anyone is trying to create World War III over this," Judy
Jacobs said. "We shouldn't be adding to the flames."
However, Schmitt said, "I'll certainly leave my door open if anyone wants
to remedy the problem."
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