This blog is not affiliated or endorsed, by Nassau OTB, a public benefit corporation, subject to the New York Freedom
of Information Law, NY Pub Off Law Sec 84 et seq.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
media@thefederalist.com, unions, everyone should own
one like I do, Teamsters Local 707, Suffolk County Republic Legislator Kevin McCaffrey President,.... before Janus I caused the money to be sent and the union in letters o n l y. this gives Kevin time for more jobs than I have , no time attedsnce or a tivity records required. Pass the salt
Nassau GOP chair intends to collect fat paychecks for 3 jobs
On the heels of pay-to-play corruption scandals that have tarnished the Long Island GOP, the Nassau County Republic Party has elected a one-time disbarred lawyer to be its new leader — and the retirement-age politico intends to collect fat paychecks from three different jobs simultaneously.
Joseph Cairo, 72, the new chairman of the Nassau County Republican Party, is also head of the Nassau County Off-Track Betting Corporation. He’s paid $198,000 at OTB.
The long-time No. 2 to former Nassau GOP boss Joe Mondello had his law license yanked in the 1990s for misusing client funds. His license was reinstated and the politically-connected lawyer now has an established law practice, GOP sources said.
He also has not ruled out collecting a third paycheck from the Nassau GOP.
Mondello, his predecessor, made more than $250,000 last year as GOP boss, and pulled in $1.5 million from his private law practice and real estate investments, records filed with the government show.
At one time, Mondello also simultaneously headed the Nassau GOP and OTB.
Cairo’s law office is in Valley Stream, his OTB’s corporate office is in Mineola and Nassau GOP headquarters is in Westbury.
A Post reporter found him at GOP headquarters.
Cairo said he was not relinquishing his OTB executive job or suspending his law practice after taking the reins of the GOP.
“I’ve been at OTB. This is a crucial time at OTB with possibly sports gambling coming so we’re deeply involved with that there now,” Cairo said.
“This is a political position. My attorneys tell me there is no conflict and I think having a position in a political party is such that it’s been done in the past by people on both sides of the aisle. And I think it’s currently done, too, in some other counties — their elected officials are also party chairmen,” he said.
But watchdogs have long complained that allowing people to simultaneously hold top positions in government and party leadership opens the door to conflicts of interests and potential corruption.
“It’s business as usual. This is an example of the rotten political system in Nassau County,” said George Marlin, who formerly served on the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, a state agency set up to monitor the county’s shaky finances.
Marlin said the multiple paid gigs for Cairo is remarkable, especially after the Nassau Republicans lost the county executive’s race and the Town of Hempstead supervisor’s race last year amid concerns over corruption.
Cairo chalked up the suspension of his law license to a mistake from the distant past.
“I think that’s something that happened — it was earlier than ‘95, that’s 25 years ago, and I think people who know me know the type of person I am,” he said.
With that, Cairo grabbed a suit jacket from a parked black Cadillac before jumping into the passenger seat of a Jaguar driven by a friend.
Cairo is right about one thing. On Long Island particularly, politicians simultaneously collecting hefty paychecks from top government and political party posts is a time-honored tradition.
The Post reported last week that Rich Schaffer is drawing down a combined $350,000 from three paychecks as head of the Suffolk County Democratic Party, as the full-time Town of Babylon Supervisor and from a law practice that includes representing plumbing contractors.
But Long Island Democrats have their scandals, too.
Gerard Terry, the former North Hempstead Democratic Party chairman, was convicted of tax evasion for failing to report his income that included payments from legal services provided to eight different local government agencies.
New Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat who won the election on anti-corruption platform last year, passed executive orders barring county government officials from holding party positions or from accepting gifts.
New York City has a law that bars top government officials from serving as party bosses, following the municipal corruption scandals of the 1980s.
Nassau OTB to employees: Retire, use time owed or work without pay
A Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting location in Franklin Square. Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin
Your subscription is important because it supports our work covering the coronavirus outbreak and other strong local journalism Newsday provides. You can find the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak at newsday.com/LiveUpdates.
Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting has asked its 132 employees to use accumulated sick and vacation time, work temporarily without pay or retire as the agency copes with the shutdown of its betting parlors during the coronavirus pandemic.
But Suffolk County OTB is paying its 300 employees as it seeks a loan under the new federal Payroll Protection Program designed to help businesses pay their workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, agency spokesman Jon Schneider said.
Suffolk OTB's annual payroll is approximately $16.6 million. Nassau OTB has $6.98 million in annual payroll.
"We're hopeful as a public benefit corporation, that we will be able to access some of these funds for employees," Schneider said. "We are able to retain our entire workforce."
Nassau OTB officials said they don't believe the federal program covers gambling entities.
Nassau OTB, also a public benefit corporation, is "ineligible as a gambling business for loans" from the PPP program, Nassau OTB general counsel Arthur Walsh said. But the agency has filed paperwork to qualify for the program, though officials are not hopeful the application will be successful, agency spokesman David Chauvin said.
Members of Congress and gaming industry leaders have urged the federal government to make clear that casinos are eligible for the loans if they retain their workforce during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Nassau OTB president Joseph Cairo said closure of the public benefit corporation's betting parlors and its 12 Fast-Track digital terminals in taverns and bars last month has meant "our operation basically shut down.”
“We took a big hit, our revenue went down drastically,” said Cairo, who also is chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee.
Nassau OTB employees were paid through April 4.
Of the agency's 132 full- and part-time employees, 104 are using accumulated time, 14 will take furloughs, and two have retired, officials said Monday, while 12 have until Monday to make their intentions known, a spokesman said.
Nassau OTB officials said a limited number of employees who are essential to operations are working and receiving full pay.
Cairo said he will continue to work, and draw down his accumulated sick and vacation time.
Kevin McCaffrey, president of Teamsters Local 707, which represents Nassau OTB employees, said "everyone’s situation is different. Some people have a lot of accrued time. Some people have no accrued time."
McCaffrey, also a Republican Suffolk County legislator from Lindenhurst, said he was encouraging OTB to apply for the Paycheck Protection Plan.
“The odds are in their favor," McCaffrey said.
On Wednesday, William Miller, chairman of the American Gaming Association, wrote President Donald Trump to urge him to make clear that small gaming entities can receive assistance from the Payroll Protection Program.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) argued in an April 4 letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin that PPP, "is a totally new program that is separate and distinct from" the law that governs federal Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
Businesses that derive more than one-third of gross annual revenue from legal gambling activities are not eligible for the disaster loans, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Nassau OTB staff operate six branch office locations, the teletheater in Plainview and online and telephone betting.
Suffolk OTB operates betting parlors, QWIKbetz locations and has online and phone operations. Also, Delaware North operates Jake's 58 Casino Hotel for OTB, which leases space at the video lottery casino from the company and receives a portion of the casino’s earnings.
Scott Eidler covers Nassau County government and politics for Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.
No comments:
Post a Comment