Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney John Scott Prudenti on Oct. 26, 2016. Photo Credit: Ed Betz
Suffolk, Nassau OTB probe ethics conflict
by David Winzelberg
Published: November 24th, 2013
At least one employee of Nassau County Off-Track Betting is questioning whether the head of his employee union, a member-elect of the Suffolk County Legislature, should have a say in Suffolk OTB business.
Teamsters Local 707 President Kevin McCaffery, whose union represents about 200 Nassau OTB workers, was elected earlier this month to serve as a Suffolk legislator representing the 14th District. In a letter last week, Nassau OTB cashier Jackson Leeds alerted the Suffolk County Ethics Board to McCaffery’s possible conflict of interest.
“As a Suffolk County legislator, his duties are to the people of Suffolk County,” Leeds wrote. “He cannot simultaneously represent the interests of employees of Nassau OTB, a Nassau County public benefit corporation.”
McCaffery told LIBN he doesn’t think the two counties’ OTBs are in competition with each other and he doesn’t see his role as union leader for Nassau OTB workers as a conflict with issues surrounding Suffolk OTB.
“If anything, I have the background of dealing with Nassau OTB, which gives me more insight on the subject than any other legislator out there,” McCaffery said.
When asked if the legislator-elect’s union job appeared to be a conflict of interest, Nassau OTB chief Joseph Cairo said, “If you really want to stretch it. But I don’t see anything that’s apparent to me.”
Cairo added that he’ll instruct the Nassau agency’s counsel to review the situation.
Leeds, a 10-year veteran of Nassau OTB, complained that both union officials and county OTB management have been too focused on the 1,000 video lottery terminals planned for each county’s OTB and they’re not paying enough attention to current operations.
“They never worked behind a window,” Leeds told LIBN. “They’re out of touch with the bettors of Nassau County.”
Internet wagering and dwindling handles – the overall money being wagered – have prompted a consolidation in Nassau OTB’s operations in recent years; there were 15 betting offices in Nassau in 2003, and now there are eight. Suffolk OTB, which has seven branch offices, filed for bankruptcy last year.
These days, according to some analysts, OTB offices exist largely for political patronage – another reason, according to Leeds, that the Nassau union chief shouldn’t mix one business with the other.
“Union leaders should not be politicians,” he said. “OTBs are run by politicians. Being political and doing public good aren’t always incompatible, but they often are.”
This isn’t the first time a Long Island legislator’s OTB ties have become an issue.
In May 2000, Gregory Peterson, then-president of the Nassau OTB, sued to prevent Nassau County Leg. Roger Corbin from voting on appointments to the Nassau OTB’s board of directors. Because Corbin was employed as a branch manager for New York City OTB and a member of Teamsters Local 858, which then represented all employees of Nassau OTB, Peterson alleged Corbin’s legislative role posed a conflict of interest.
A New York Supreme Court judge issued an injunction preventing Corbin from voting on OTB appointments, but Corbin appealed and the lower court’s decision was reversed. The Nassau County Board of Ethics also chimed in, determining by a 3-2 vote that voting on OTB appointments didn’t create a conflict because Corbin didn’t influence policy or engage in labor negotiations.
With McCaffery, some observers say it’s best to proceed with caution.
Anthony Figliola, vice president of Uniondale-based government relations firm Empire Government Strategies, said the legislator-elect may want to recuse himself from any votes concerning Suffolk OTB until the Suffolk County Ethics Board offers an opinion.
“OTB is a political football,” Figliola said. “It’s better to stay out of it, especially if you want to get things done in the Legislature.”
David Winzelberg
Reporter
Without fanfare, an advisory ethics opinion was released last week in which no names are mentioned and even the name of the Suffolk legislator who requested the ruling was blacked out. The advisory opinion also emphasizes it is based on “hypothetical facts.”
But the Suffolk County Board of Ethics, after a four-month review, has determined that it is a violation of the current ethics law for an assistant district attorney to rent out a boat or other property to defense attorneys who have or have had criminal cases with the prosecutor.
Such a rental, the opinion states, “is inherently problematic and is prohibited.” It adds that such a dealing “interferes with the proper execution of justice” and “creates a palpable appearance of impropriety even if intended not to influence.” Such a transaction, “even without a proof of an ill motive, calls into question the public perception of the fundamental integrity of the criminal justice system.”
While hypothetical, the details of the opinion track those in the long-swirling controversy involving John Scott Prudenti, a district attorney bureau chief who in the past made thousands of dollars renting his 47-foot boat, Christina Marie, to defense lawyers with whom he dealt on cases.
However, the opinion is based on the current county ethics law that took effect in 2012, and Prudenti’s boat rentals stopped before 2010.
The opinion is just the latest chapter in a saga sparked by a Newsday story about Prudenti’s rentals last April. County Executive Steve Bellone in May criticized District Attorney Thomas Spota’s office over Prudenti’s past practices and called for an ethics board investigation. A Spota spokesman declined to comment.
County lawmakers since summer have sought to make public Prudenti’s financial disclosure statements — required by county law — to determine if the prosecutor reported the income he made from the boat rentals. So far, Prudenti has been successful in the appellate division in keeping those records private in an ongoing lawsuit.
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Legis. Bill Lindsay (D-Oakdale), who sought the advisory opinion, said the ethics board opinion “gives everyone a clear understanding” of what is permitted. “Based on their advisory opinion, I would think they should pursue any employee who is in violation,” he said.
Under the county’s ethics law, the impact could be substantial. The ethics board could impose fines of up to $10,000 for violations and recommend that the county hiring authority suspend or remove an employee. A person who knowingly violates the law could also be found guilty of a misdemeanor and face up to a year in prison and up to a $1,000 fine.
However David Besso, Prudenti’s attorney, said the advisory opinion has “nothing to do” with Prudenti since it is based on hypothetical facts under the current ethics law and not the earlier legislation that was in place when Prudenti was renting out the boat. “There have been no rentals to anyone under the current law, and the board did not differentiate between the two sets of laws,” he said.
Besso added that Prudenti, a 30-year veteran of the district attorney’s office, “is aware of his ethical obligation and always holds himself to the highest standards.”
Bellone dismissed Besso’s claims as “legal semantics,” and said Prudenti’s violations cannot be ignored. “The ethics board has now made it clear that Prudenti violated the law, he should be suspended immediately and drop his lawsuit against the legislature and release his financial disclosure forms.”
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