CAPITOL State lawyer resigns after accusations BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press
A veteran state lawyer is quitting after being accused by the inspector general of collecting pay without showing up at work. On Thursday, the inspector general said James McCarthy was paid $6,000 over 12 weeks when he didn’t show up at state offices to work for the Department of Correctional Services. He was paid $60,867 a year for 19 hours of work weekly, according to the inspector general. McCarthy resigned his job handling extradition papers effective Friday after 13 years working for the state. He said was resigning to eliminate any “distraction” at the department because of his case, which caused some disagreement between the inspector general and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The Department of Correctional Services is seeking restitution, said spokesman Erik Kriss. McCarthy, 52, works for the law firm Girvin & Ferlazzo in Albany. The company Web site says he held several positions in the Pataki administration, including assistant counsel, and once was assistant counsel to the Senate Finance Committee in the Republican Senate majority led by Sen. Joseph Bruno of Rensselaer County. The law firm’s Web site says McCarthy handles litigation and real estate issues for the firm and is also the attorney for the Troy city school district. That’s the biggest school in Bruno’s district. Last month Democratic state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli kicked some attorneys — including some from Girvin & Ferlazzo — out of the New York state and local retirement system because an upstate BOCES district inappropriately classified them as employees. DiNapoli said he was unsure if the attorneys knew they were getting benefits paid by the school district that they shouldn’t have received as part-time workers. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating the issue in school districts statewide. He said he suspects many districts including BOCES districts provided inappropriate benefits to part-time lawyers, while collecting state school aid that for a full-time employee. The McCarthy case created a conflict between the inspector general’s office and Cuomo. Hours before McCarthy’s resignation, Cuomo disputed the state inspector general’s public assertion on Thursday that Cuomo declined to investigate the case against Mc-Carthy for any civil or criminal wrongdoing. On Thursday, the inspector general’s Web site stated: “The Inspector General’s Office also presented the evidence to the New York State Attorney General’s Office, which declined to prosecute criminal charges against McCarthy.” Cuomo spokesman John Milgrim said Friday that the office is investigating the findings by the state Inspector General’s Office in the case. He said the attorney general can’t legally decline a referral. Inspector general’s office spokesman Stephen DelGiacco on Friday called the conflicting statements a misunderstanding. But he refused to say if Cuomo’s office had ever refused to investigate the case. “We discussed the case with them previously and there was miscommunication or misunderstanding,” DelGiacco said.
By RICK KARLIN, Staff writer Wednesday, May 7, 2008
ALBANY -- State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli today said he has pulled three lawyers out of the state retirement system and rescinded credit from two other lawyers and an accountant.
Included in the list is at least one lawyer with close ties to the Pataki Administration; Public Service Commissioner Maureen Harris who had her credits rescinded. She was appointed to the PSC by Pataki and is a sister to Pataki's former counsel, Mike Finnegan. Harris had briefly worked for Albany's Girvin & Ferlazzo law firm and was among the lawyers with credits for work at the Hamilton Fulton Montgomery BOCES. DiNapoli and AG Andrew Cuomo have said that the BOCES lawyers should be considered independent contractors, not employees, and therefore not eligible for pension credits.
CAPITOL Firm backs BOCES services Former lawyer settles to halt Cuomo probe BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter
Girvin & Ferlazzo, the Albany law firm tied by state investigators to a pension scandal involving the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES, denied wrongdoing Thursday, even as Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a $50,000 settlement with one of its former lawyers. Maureen Harris, who resigned from Girvin & Ferlazzo in 2006 when she became a member of the state Public Service Commission, agreed to pay the state $50,000 to settle Cuomo’s investigation into her. According to a Cuomo news release, she “was appointed in 2005 as a BOCES labor relations specialist, [and] received a $30,000 salary from HFM BOCES and pension credits, despite the fact that she did not provide any labor relations services to the HFM BOCES.” She is forfeiting the credits she received in the state pension system. According to the Cuomo statement, Girvin lawyers were reported as HFM BOCES employees to the pension system “even though several were doing no work or almost no work for HFM BOCES. The fi rm generally regarded BOCES payroll placement as a perk of membership in the Girvin firm,” and the arrangement also let the BOCES and its component school districts “improperly obtain state aid.” At a Capitol news conference, Cuomo said his office is investigating “chronic, widespread corruption and fraud” in the state pension system, involving lawyers and others improperly listed on the payrolls of school districts and other local governments. Michael Koenig, Harris’ lawyer, and Jim Denn, spokesman for the the school districts were getting something for the money they paid Girvin & Ferlazzo. In fact, he said, since HFM BOCES canceled its agreement with the firm earlier this year, most of the school districts in Fulton and Montgomery counties have reached new agreements with Girvin & Ferlazzo because it provides good value for the money. And the districts need good legal representation, he said, as they negotiate with well-funded unions such as New York State United Teachers. Honeywell’s statement said: “The shared services agreement was specifically approved by the [state] Education Department and was subject to periodic program audits. … Since at least 2004 the Attorney General’s Office has been aware of the issues surrounding BOCES and school district lawyers being granted retirement system service credits.” Cuomo spokesman John Milgrim’s only response was, “Our investigation is continuing.” PSC, said Harris was not available for comment. Koenig said she admitted no wrongdoing, came forward voluntarily to the attorney general when she heard about his investigation, and was involved in the Girvin arrangement with the HFM BOCES for only one year. Denn said she remains in good standing at the PSC, and Koenig said she does not plan to resign. Girvin & Ferlazzo issued a statement from managing partner Jeffrey Honeywell saying it is cooperating with Cuomo’s investigation “because we have done nothing wrong.” The statement said the law firm “has provided the school districts participating in the shared services agreement in HFM BOCES full and complete [labor] negotiations services for any compensation received by this fi rm.” Honeywell is one of seven Girvin HFM BOCES Superintendent & Ferlazzo attorneys whose pen-Geoffrey Davis confirmed that sion credits earned through HFM BOCES were revoked this year by state Comptroller Thomas Di-Napoli because they had been improperly listed as state employees rather than independent contractors. The status of several other of the firm’s attorneys in relation to the pension system is unclear, according to Davis and the Attorney General’s Office. Another attorney, James Mc-Carthy, resigned recently both from Girvin and Ferlazzo and the state Department of Correctional Services after a state inspector general’s investigation found he wasn’t showing up to work at DOCS. At the news conference, Cuomo said Girvin & Ferlazzo “is the subject of a very active both civil and criminal investigation” by his office. Sean Casey, of the public relations firm Sawchuck Brown, which is representing Girvin & Ferlazzo, said the law firm does work for about 30 school districts in the Capital Region and 70 statewide. One of those districts is Cohoes, where the superintendent, Charles Dedrick, said he deals mainly with Honeywell and Kristine Lanchantin, another of the Girvin & Ferlazzo attorneys removed from the pension system by the comptroller. Dedrick said the district is sticking with the law firm, noting that its lawyers have not been accused of a crime. “There haven’t been indictments; there hasn’t been anybody found guilty,” said Dedrick, who in July will become superintendent of the Capital Region BOCES. Honeywell could not be reached for comment. His statement said: “In the late 1990s then [state] Comptroller Carl McCall reviewed the situation of an attorney being employed by several municipal entities while enrolled in the [state] Employees Retirement System and found that situation not to violate any rule or regulation.” The attorney referred to in connection with McCall is apparently the wellknown Capital Region labor lawyer James Roemer. He has previously declined to comment when contacted by the Gazette.
Leave it to the lawyers to suck the public of tax money even after they retire and the government at all levels are full of lawyers that get lucrative pensions and benefits when they retire at the public's expense.
By MARV CERMAK, Staff writer First published: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
DiNapoli and Andrew Cuomo are doing a long-overdue service cracking down on part-time public sector lawyers padding their time slips. Unfortu- nately, the savings is minimal compared with the cost of allowing part-time elected officials to claim full-time retirement credits.
Elected legislators from counties, cities, towns and villages are credited with full-time work although most attend only a few monthly meetings. Even state legislators are in session just half the year. The elected representatives have forever claimed they are always on call, doing homework and on the street helping constituents. Several local elected people I spoke with agreed they spend only between five and 10 hours a week on government business. They asked to remain nameless because they didn't want to be hassled by fellow politicians on the gravy train. The system could be repaired by crediting the elected folks for only actual time spent at meetings. Hypothetically, let's say they are credited with 10 hours each week not 40. Over a four-year term of office, instead of four years credit in the retirement system, they would receive just one year. The retirement system audits time records of regular part-time government workers, but why not the elected people? True pension reform would save megamillions at a time when the state is buried in debt. No doubt DiNapoli and Cuomo would run into a buzz saw if they lean on all the elected folks.
The retirement system audits time records of regular part-time government workers, but why not the elected people? True pension reform would save megamillions at a time when the state is buried in debt.
save what?---megamillions---isn't that a misnomer......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Class-action lawsuit in state pension cases? Lawyer says he is preparing to challenge the stripping of credits
By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau First published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008
An Albany lawyer is preparing a class-action lawsuit to try to stop Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli from stripping pension credits from lawyers who state officials say don't deserve them. The lawsuit will likely be filed later this week in state Supreme Court in Albany County and will seek restraining orders against Cuomo and DiNapoli, said lawyer James Roemer, who specializes in public sector employment issues.
While he wouldn't immediately divulge details of his legal strategy or name the initial plaintiffs, Roemer said he's representing four individuals from Long Island who have lost pension credits during the past few weeks. Roemer said he believes thousands of lawyers could potentially join the suit, given the many private attorneys who work for government entities, including towns and villages, school boards and utility districts, and who have enrolled in the state pension system. Cuomo and DiNapoli say lawyers in private practice generally shouldn't get public pensions. "We've been working on this project, if you will, for almost a month and we've dubbed it 'Operation Pushback,' " said Roemer who is with the Roemer Wallins & Minneaux. He also is working with members of the DeGraff, Foy and Kunz firm. For the past few weeks, following reports of alleged pension fund abuse reported in the Long Island newspaper Newsday, DiNapoli and Cuomo have been investigating lawyers who've worked for government organizations, starting with school districts and BOCES. So far, DiNapoli has suspended about a dozen people from the pension system or stripped them of their retirement credits, saying they should have been categorized as independent contractors rather than employees. And Cuomo last week got settlements worth $100,000. But Roemer, 63, who himself draws a six-figure pension for his work for a number of Capital Region municipalities, contends that the pensions are justified. "For 70 years plus, this has been authorized," Roemer said, explaining that no one from the comptroller or other office had questioned the practice until now. Cuomo spokesman John Milgrim said his office couldn't comment since the legal action hasn't been filed. DiNapoli spokeswoman Emily DeSantis predicted the comptroller would withstand any challenge. "These individuals were not entitled to that service credit because they acted as independent contractors, not employees," she said of those who've lost their credits. "We are confident that our determinations will be upheld." Roemer has been one of the central characters in the pension controversy. His situation was detailed in a 1997 Times Union story that disclosed how he had accrued $80,240 in annual pension credits for his work as a labor contract negotiator for the cities of Utica, Schenectady and Saratoga Springs, as well as the town of Colonie and Schoharie and Sullivan counties. By the time Roemer started collecting his pension in 2001, it was worth $119,874 a year, according to state records. While Cuomo hasn't publicly commented on Roemer's case in particular, his situation fits what the attorney general said is a pattern in which lawyers statewide have improperly gathered pension credits. Essentially, Cuomo and DiNapoli say, these lawyers as well as some other professionals didn't meet commonly recognized conditions for being considered employees. Those conditions include having one's own place to work, being directed by a supervisor and keeping regular hours. Roemer maintains he and others meet that threshold. "You don't need a desk and a telephone to be considered an employee," Roemer said. He has set up a Web site for people looking to learn more about the lawsuit, at http://snysr.com, although as of Tuesday evening it was still under construction. Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com. James M. Odato contributed to this story.
I'm shocked that a lawyer is going to sue to protect the benefits that they don't deserve just so they don't have to put money away for their retirement like the rest of us.
Albany lawyer sues over pension probe Roemer wants investiagtion stopped, lists memos, advisories to back up arguments
By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau Thursday, May 15, 2008
ALBANY - A veteran municipal lawyer filed suit in state court today, hoping to derail investigations into use of the state pension system by lawyers and to reverse decisions made against some of them.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo have been investigating lawyers statewide who they say may be improperly enrolled in the pension system because they were independent contractors, not employees. Almost a dozen people have lost pension credits or had them suspended. Albany lawyer James Roemer's legal complaint alleges that Cuomo has launched a "politically motivated gambit" and that DiNapoli has embarked on an "illegal and unconstitutional course of action." In his filing in state Supreme Court in Albany County, Roemer refers to previous decisions and memos from past comptrollers about pensions or other benefits. Roemer cites a 1940 state constitutional amendment that says that pension benefits "shall not be diminished or impaired," and his exhibits include past memos, newsletters and advisories. Some of his arguments: The state retirement system, not the beneficiary, "determines the eligibility," of people getting pension credits. Rather than needing several "indicia," or conditions of employment, to prove that someone is an employee not a contractor, people need to meet only one such condition. These "indicia" can include having a work space, being under the supervision of someone else or keeping regular hours. The work hours for some jobs such as labor attorneys are regular but, as suggested in a 1997 comptroller's memo, that shouldn't exclude such people from retirement credits. Independent contractors are hired for "a one-time specific job," according to a 1994 state retirement system newsletter. That shows that school lawyers could be considered employees, Roemer said. He also cited a story in Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, about how DiNapoli, when he was chairman of the Mineola Board of Education in the 1970s, voted to hire an outside lawyer as an employee. The lawyer, who has since died, received retirement benefits. While he has until recently focused on schools and BOCES organizations, Cuomo says lawyers at any of the state's thousands of government entities, including villages and sewer districts, could be wrongfully enrolled in the pension system. Roemer draws a state pension himself and he was profiled in a 1997 Times Union story detailing how was able to use retirement systems rules to qualify for benefits. At the time, former Comptroller Carl McCall was quoted saying the benefits appeared to be legal. In today's suit, Roemer is representing three downstate lawyers and one from Binghamton. All are fighting to keep or restore pensions the state is trying to take from them. Roemer said thousands of lawyers could potentially find themselves in similar straits, so the suit is filed as a class action.oth Cuomo and DiNapoli didn't have detailed rebuttals, but held firm in their contention that lawyers who are truly independent contractors don't deserve state pension benefits. Cuomo spokesman John Milgrim said the AG is "quite confident that our investigation is not only legally well-founded but in the public interest." Cuomo has maintained that just because a practice has gone on for years doesn't make it right. DiNapoli stressed that each case is being looked at individually and decisions have been justified. Also today, Cuomo said he was planning hearings about pension fraud with the Legislature next week and he is expanding his probe into the practice of "double dipping," in which school superintendents retire, collect a pension and then are rehired somewhere else. Specifically, Cuomo wants to explore if the waivers that allow that practice have been abused.
CAPITOL Lawyers sue state to keep controversial pension benefits BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter
Lawyers targeted by the state attorney general and comptroller for getting state pension benefits they allegedly have not earned are fighting back, filing a class-action lawsuit to defend their position and their pensions. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in state Supreme Court, Albany County, by four attorneys against Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, and the New York State and Local Employees’ Retirement System. Lead attorney for the plaintiffs is James Roemer of the Albany firm Roemer Wallens & Mineaux. The plaintiffs’ Web site, snysr.com (standing for Save New York State Retirement membership benefits), has information about the case and links to the court documents. According to the complaint, the Employees’ Retirement System and the Comptroller’s Office have for many years recognized the right of “private-practice professionals employed part-time” by a public entity such as a school district to be enrolled in the state pension system. The lawsuit objects to the comptroller’s recent actions in removing several lawyers from the pension system, because, according to DiNapoli, they worked for private firms and should have been classified as independent contractors by the school boards that used their services. Cuomo has suggested that lawyers have engaged in fraud by lining up public pensions. Roemer confirmed that he is drawing a state pension of more than $119,000 per year based on his past work for local governments, and that he has been subpoenaed by Cuomo’s office. He said he is contesting the subpoena, and is legally entitled to the pension payments. Currently, Roemer said, he and his fi rm’s other lawyers work as independent contractors for local governments. He has in the past done labor relations work for the city of Schenectady, and his current clients include Schoharie County. The four attorneys who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Nathaniel Swergold, John Hogan, Terence Smolev and Paul Martineau. The complaint says they are suing on their own behalf and “on behalf of all others similarly situated.” The suit asks the court to shut down the Cuomo and DiNapoli investigations, and to prevent them from diminishing the public benefits that private practice professionals are entitled to. In the Capital Region, most of the lawyers thrown out of the retirement system by DiNapoli are from the Albany firm Girvin & Ferlazzo. They were, according to DiNapoli, improperly put in the retirement system by the Hamilton-Fulton Montgomery BOCES. Girvin & Ferlazzo did not respond to a request for comment about Thursday’s lawsuit. Previously, it has defended its lawyers’ retirement status. But one of the firm’s former lawyers, Maureen Harris, this month reached a $50,000 settlement with Cuomo and forfeited her pension credits. DiNapoli issued a statement saying: “I have the legal authority and the fi scal responsibility to state taxpayers and to the members of the Retirement System to make sure that only eligible employees receive state pension benefits. That authority will not be threatened by lawyers filing lawsuits.” In an interview Thursday with Talk 1300 radio, Cuomo confirmed that Roemer is among the lawyers being investigated by his offi ce. Cuomo said he does not regard it as a defense that arrangements have been going on a long time. “I think it’s an aggravating factor,” he said. “A lot of scams have been going on a long time.” Cuomo’s office issued a statement Thursday saying its “ongoing investigation of pension fraud has expanded to include more than 4,000 local governments and special districts across New York state and all 37 Boards of Cooperative Educational Services.”
Triple dipper paid $641,000 Top pensioner George M. Philip draws three state paychecks serving in two post-retirement positions
By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau First published: Wednesday, May 21, 2008
ALBANY -- The highest-paid pensioner in the state retirement system is a triple dipper. Because of several requests for his expertise, George M. Philip said, he took his retirement a few months earlier than planned last November, netting him a $261,000 annual pension.
He then gave his alma mater some help by stepping into the $280,000-a-year post as the University at Albany's interim president. And, he said Tuesday, he's being paid $100,000 a year as consultant for his former employer, the New York State Teachers Retirement System, which has yet to fill his role as investment officer. The deal runs through the end of 2008 to help the new pension boss, Thomas Lee. For Philip, that's three state paychecks worth $641,000 a year. John Cardillo, a spokesman for the Teachers Retirement System, said Philip's "independent consultant agreement" was approved unanimously by the system's retirement board so that Philip, who is a director on the boards of publicly traded companies, could continue offering investment advice. He would not disclose details. Philip's final average was calculated based on his last 12 months of compensation -- $419,413 -- which included a lump sum for 30 days of unused vacation time. He had about 40 years of service credits, including 37 years at the Teachers Retirement System. He was the chief executive for the final 12 years, when the fund grew to $105 billion in value from $40 billion. Philip's exceptional public incomes come to light as Attorney General Andrew Cuomo plans a Thursday hearing on Long Island on pension fraud including the practice of double dipping -- when a public employee leaves the public payroll only to return in the same public field. Cuomo has suggested he would like to restrict such employment arrangements because of abuse. He has particularly focused on school superintendents who take large pensions from the Teachers Retirement System and then return to become school superintendents again in New York state. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and lawmakers are also scrutinizing the practice, and legislation has been proposed to bar forms of double dipping. Philip, 60, and some public employment specialists, say caution is necessary before policy is created to block experts in their field from extending their public careers after retirement. Retired professionals, many of whom climbed the career ladder as public employees in the state, should be available to other New York public employers instead of being exported to other states or the private sector, they said. That would waste talent and state resources, they said. Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, D-Long Beach, who is sponsoring a bill to outlaw private lawyers from getting pension credits when they work for public employers, said superintendents who retire and return to work may be a good value. "If they're qualified and good at what they do, wouldn't you want to have the best person as superintendent of your school?" he said.Timothy Kremer, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association, said he ran a professional recruiting operation in Ohio for schools and realized how shallow the talent pool is. Re-employing retired business agents, principals, teachers and superintendents is a cheaper deal for the public because there are no pension or benefit costs, just salary. "You're getting a high level of expertise at a price that is probably less expensive," Kremer said. Philip, who served as both executive director and chief investment officer of the Teachers Retirement System, said that is his situation. He said he is providing public service by assisting his former employer while it tries to hire an investment professional and UAlbany while it searches for a permanent president. Assembly Government Employees Committee Chairman Peter Abbate Jr., D-Brooklyn, is less sure. He said Philip should have groomed a successor before leaving. Philip was listed in a Times Union story Sunday that identified 899 people receiving $100,000 a year in pensions. Many retired police officers and some criminals were also on the list. For those getting six-figure pensions, the state retirement fund is paying out $103 million a year; $28.2 million of that goes to retirees of Nassau County, many of them former police who boosted pensions by working overtime. Assemblyman Robert Reilly, D-Colonie, said he feels like a "pauper" with a pension of $48,000 after 28 years working with the state Education Department. "When we have police officers getting pensions over $100,000 that indicates there is a problem, and a serious problem," Reilly said. Philip's deal doesn't seem right, he said. "I don't feel that a person should be paid $100,000 given that the person is already being paid half a million," he said. "This is why New York state has financial problems . . .You can't be giving out money in this amount and not have financial problems." Legislation recently introduced by Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, D-Lindenhurst, and Sen. Owen Johnson, R-West Babylon, attempts to prevent double dipping by requiring the public pensions of people less than 70 years old be suspended if they return to the same or substantially similar positions and are already collecting pensions of about $83,000. Sweeney said the bill would not affect Philip, but the assemblyman was interested in his investment consulting agreement. "He obviously knows how to make money," Sweeney said. M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.
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