Hundreds of New York Government Workers are Double Dippers

We just have a simple question: by hiring retired government workers who are getting their pensions as well, does this keep hidden secrets "in house"?

$LAMMED BY BIG 'DIPPERS'
By SUSAN EDELMAN, BRUCE GOLDING, REUVEN BLAU and MELISSA KLEIN
LINK

May 4, 2008 -- Hundreds of New York government workers are double dippers - collecting pension paychecks for old jobs from which they retired, as they simultaneously take home salaries from new public-payroll jobs.
While Gov. Paterson has ordered a virtual hiring freeze to curb "insurmountable" debt, state agencies rely on a loophole to hire retirees for jobs they claim no one else can fill - from $30,000-a-year bus drivers to executive directors and commissioners making six figures.

Under the law, the state must suspend pensions of retirees under age 65 who take new public jobs paying more than $30,000.

But about 700 retired state and local government workers, including many ex-cops, currently are granted special exceptions - known as "211 waivers" for the section number in the law - by the state Civil Service Commission. They collect a total $49 million in salaries, plus their pensions.

About 100 double dippers draw salaries of at least $100,000 on top of their pensions - a deal that boosts their income dramatically.

The biggest beneficiaries include Dirty Tricks Scandal figure Daniel Wiese. He was suspended - with pay - last month pending a probe by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of his possible role in the Spitzer administration's alleged plot to use the State Police to embarrass Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

With his sweetheart waiver, Wiese rakes in his current $181,701 salary as director of corporate security and inspector general at the New York Power Authority, plus a $73,259 pension from his former job as a State Police lieutenant colonel. His total take: $254,960 a year.

"The 211 waiver is supposed to be rare," said Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who has blasted Wiese's double dipping. "The law requires agencies to follow a special process to assure this is an extraordinary remedy with no other alternatives to meet the government's needs."

The Power Authority never advertised for Wiese's position. A "low-profile search" for experienced candidates found only Wiese "uniquely qualified," the agency claimed.

The authority got another 211 waiver for Wiese's deputy, Albert Swansen, who retired in 2003 as a senior investigator for the state police. He collects a $131,018 salary plus his $57,643.28 pension - a total $188,661.

In other state agencies:

* Sheila Kee, Health Department associate commissioner for western New York, gets a $143,013 salary and her $99,389 pension from Erie County. Total: $242,402.

* Anthony Hellmer, a Commission of Investigation associate commissioner, makes a $127,100 salary plus his $36,709 pension from the State Police. Total: $163,809.

* Bruce Feig, Office of Mental Health deputy commissioner, makes $165,157 plus a pension based on his $178,156 salary when he retired in 2006 as chief financial officer for the city Department of Education.

* Louis Pietroluongo, Insurance Department deputy superintendent for disaster preparedness and business continuity, gets a $159,253 salary plus pension of at least $54,000, half his last salary in 1999 with the NYPD.

* Dennis Martin, acting state inspector general - appointed last month when boss Kristine Hamann resigned under fire in the Dirty Tricks Scandal - makes $142,327, plus a pension of at least $25,000, based on his NYPD salary when he retired in 1988.

* Daniel Boyle, State Liquor Authority chairman, collects a $120,800 salary plus a $49,221 pension from his former job as a Syracuse deputy police chief. Total $170,021.

The application for Boyle's waiver says, "Due to the confidential nature of this position, the incumbent must have the unqualified trust of the governor." The state adds "we do not know of any other candidate" to head the liquor-licensing agency.

Meant as a stopgap, the waivers expire in two years but can be requested again. The Post tallied 119 current double dippers, including 77 state employees, with waivers extended more than 10 years. Three investigators in the Attorney General's Office and one in the Insurance Department have held waivers for 21 years.

Many departments snap up dozens of former NYPD officers as investigators. Cops can retire after 20 years and start drawing pensions of at least half their last year's salary while young enough for second careers.

The attorney general employs about 135 with waivers, nearly all hired by previous AGs.

The Civil Service Commission rubber-stamps all but a few waiver requests from state and local governments. New York City, the courts, SUNY and CUNY grant their own 211 waivers.

In 2007, the commission handled 475 waivers - denying only eight.

When agencies insist a retiree is the only qualified candidate, "we don't second guess that," said spokesman David Ernst.

Union leaders gripe that hiring too many retirees - who do not earn extra pension credit on new jobs - shows poor planning and can block advancement among the ranks.

Paterson's recent order to curtail new hiring "is only going to make the problem worse," because agencies may turn to part-time retirees to fill gaps, said Steven Madarasz, spokesman for the Civil Service Employees Association.

In coming years, the state expects a huge drain as baby boomers retire in droves - state employees can start collecting pensions at age 55.

susan.edelman@nypost.com

Fire dirty aides & they'll come clean - Bruno
BY JOE MAHONEY
DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF, August 7th 2007,

ALBANY - State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno scolded Gov. Spitzer yesterday for refusing to fire any of the aides responsible for the dirty tricks scheme against him - and he suggested the reason is to keep them quiet.

Spitzer reassigned and cut the salary of former homeland security adviser William Howard last week. Earlier, he suspended without pay his communications director, Darren Dopp.

Both men were recommended for discipline by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a July 23 report on the effort to have state police gather unflattering information about Bruno's use of state aircraft.

"If you cut people loose ... then they will feel much freer to tell the truth," Bruno told Albany radio station WROW. He said the administration's response to the scandal "appears to be a coverup, and we need the truth."

Spitzer's spokeswoman Christine Anderson rejected Bruno's criticism. "Considering the facts laid out in the report, the governor believes the sanctions he instituted are appropriate and necessary," she said.

Dopp's lawyer Terence Kindlon also jabbed back, telling the Daily News: "As far as I'm concerned, Joe Bruno should be fired for misusing the state police helicopter."

Bruno's use of the state chopper three times this year passed the legality test because he included at least one governmental meeting on trips that included several political events. Now, Senate Republicans are seeking to outlaw any trip not strictly for official business.

Kindlon also disclosed Dopp is willing to waive his right to invoke the Fifth Amendment should Albany District Attorney David Soares put him before a grand jury.

"Darren Dopp has done nothing wrong," Kindlon said. "We're fully prepared to participate in anybody's investigation. We're ready, willing and able to answer any questions."

The Senate Investigations Committee is set to open its own inquiry into the scandal Thursday, although sworn testimony will not be taken on that day, according to the panel's chairman, Sen. George Winner (R-Elmira).

One committee member, Sen. Tom Duane (D-Manhattan), sent Winner a letter yesterday, saying he feared the hearing would be governed by "partisanship" and argued the Ethics Commission, which has also opened an inquiry, is the "appropriate forum" for answering remaining questions.

Republicans say the Ethics Commission is not suited to run an impartial probe because it is headed by Spitzer appointees.

jmahoney@nydailynews.com

Fire dirty aides & they'll come clean - Bruno
BY JOE MAHONEY, DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF
Tuesday, August 7th 2007, 4:00 AM

ALBANY - State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno scolded Gov. Spitzer yesterday for refusing to fire any of the aides responsible for the dirty tricks scheme against him - and he suggested the reason is to keep them quiet.

Spitzer reassigned and cut the salary of former homeland security adviser William Howard last week (ED: see his new job, below). Earlier, he suspended without pay his communications director, Darren Dopp.

Both men were recommended for discipline by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a July 23 report on the effort to have state police gather unflattering information about Bruno's use of state aircraft.

"If you cut people loose ... then they will feel much freer to tell the truth," Bruno told Albany radio station WROW. He said the administration's response to the scandal "appears to be a coverup, and we need the truth."

Spitzer's spokeswoman Christine Anderson rejected Bruno's criticism. "Considering the facts laid out in the report, the governor believes the sanctions he instituted are appropriate and necessary," she said.

Dopp's lawyer Terence Kindlon also jabbed back, telling the Daily News: "As far as I'm concerned, Joe Bruno should be fired for misusing the state police helicopter."

Bruno's use of the state chopper three times this year passed the legality test because he included at least one governmental meeting on trips that included several political events. Now, Senate Republicans are seeking to outlaw any trip not strictly for official business.

Kindlon also disclosed Dopp is willing to waive his right to invoke the Fifth Amendment should Albany District Attorney David Soares put him before a grand jury.

"Darren Dopp has done nothing wrong," Kindlon said. "We're fully prepared to participate in anybody's investigation. We're ready, willing and able to answer any questions."

The Senate Investigations Committee is set to open its own inquiry into the scandal Thursday, although sworn testimony will not be taken on that day, according to the panel's chairman, Sen. George Winner (R-Elmira).

One committee member, Sen. Tom Duane (D-Manhattan), sent Winner a letter yesterday, saying he feared the hearing would be governed by "partisanship" and argued the Ethics Commission, which has also opened an inquiry, is the "appropriate forum" for answering remaining questions.

Republicans say the Ethics Commission is not suited to run an impartial probe because it is headed by Spitzer appointees.

jmahoney@nydailynews.com

DEMOTED SCANDAL FIGURE PROMOTED
By FREDRIC U. DICKER, NY POST
LINK

January 28, 2008 -- TOP aides to Gov. Spitzer have secretly promoted a central figure in the Dirty Tricks Scandal who was demoted last summer after his involvement was revealed, The Post has learned.

The unannounced promotion of William Howard, (picture at right) Spitzer's former homeland-security advisor and liaison to the State Police, occurred this month, although Howard is expected to testify in connection with several scandal-related investigations.

The promotion, to acting chief of staff of the Homeland Security Office, was approved around the same time a top scandal investigator with ties to Spitzer was secretly granted a hefty pay raise after only a few months on the job.

"Howard's promotion is startling, because it looks like it is part of a pattern designed to influence the [scandal] investigation," said a Spitzer-administration source.

Howard was demoted from his $175,900-a-year post last July after Attorney General Andrew Cuomo confirmed The Post's disclosure that top Spitzer aides had used the State Police in a plot to damage Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, the governor's chief Republican opponent.

Howard's pay was cut to $155,000 a year, and he was transferred from the Governor's Office at the state Capitol to a secondary post at the Homeland Security Office.

He is expected to receive "a significant raise," a source added.

News of the promotion was all "the buzz" at a homeland-security forum held last week by the state's Business Council. His new title appeared on the list of speakers.

Howard could not be reached for comment.

His promotion comes just weeks after Herbert Teitelbaum, executive director of the Spitzer-controlled Public Integrity Commission, which is probing the scandal, was granted a $15,000-a-year raise and time to take a 21/2-week South American vacation after only a few months on the job.

Last October, Darren Dopp, a key scandal figure suspended in the wake of the Cuomo report, was hired at increased pay and, according to sources, with Spitzer's approval, by lobbyist Patricia Lynch.

A few weeks later, Teitelbaum's commission said Dopp, the governor's former communications director, may have committed perjury when he released what Spitzer claimed was a sworn statement about the scandal.

A source close to Spitzer, meanwhile, said Albany DA David Soares and aides to the governor "appeared to be coordinating" their response to the scandal.

Soares, a Spitzer ally who cleared the governor but was then forced to reopen his investigation, is now investigating Dopp for perjury.

"Soares and the governor's people appear to be coordinating, working together, on how they're handling things," the source said.

fredric.dicker@nypost.com

DA UNDER GUN IN DIRTY TRICKS SCANDAL
By KENNETH LOVETT, Post Correspondent
April 2, 2008 --

ALBANY - In another bizarre twist to the Dirty Tricks Scandal, a state commission yesterday announced it will "investigate the investigations" - including those by Albany DA David Soares - into whether Gov. Spitzer and his top aides misused the State Police to smear a political rival.

The State Investigations Commission said it will look into the handling of the different probes by Soares, who has been heavily criticized for issuing two contradictory reports, as well as the Spitzer-controlled state Public Integrity Commission and Spitzer-appointed state Inspector General Kristine Hamann.

Armed with subpoena power, the commission will seek to talk directly with Soares, who was a Democratic political ally of Spitzer, Hamann and Public Integrity Commission Executive Director Herb Teitelbaum, SIC Chairman Alfred Lerner said.

All three have come under varying degrees of criticism for possibly looking to protect Spitzer.

"The commission is not investigating the events concerning Troopergate . . . rather, the commission is investigating the investigations. We are seeking to determine the efficacy of the various investigatory efforts."

Soares originally did not put anyone under oath and last September came out with a report clearing Spitzer and his aides of any criminal or ethical wrongdoing in trying to smear Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

But last week Soares released another report that contradicted the previous one by showing that Spitzer and his aides plotted against Bruno.

kenneth.lovett@nypost.com

EDITORIAL: Dirty Tricks, Dirty Probes
NY POST, April 2, 2008 --

It's quite clear why the state Commission of Investigation yesterday chose to begin "investigating the investigations" of Eliot Spitzer's Dirty Tricks: Those "probes" reek of coverup.

That includes the "review" by Spitzer's hand-picked inspector general, Kristine Hamann; the one by his friends at the Public Integrity Commission - and especially the one (er, two) by his political ally, Albany DA David Soares.

These "sleuths," beholden to Spitzer, took pains to hide the truth. Now, someone needs to expose them.

Their sham inquiries, of course, weren't the only "probes" into Spitzer's Dirty Tricks, which had State Police spying on Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo did a crackerjack job, finding last July that Spitzer & Co. had acted "improperly." But the AG, lacking subpoena power, couldn't dig to the bottom.

Monday, Gov. Paterson asked Cuomo to finish his probe - this time, with full prosecutorial power. Cuomo accepted the job yesterday, vowing to "restore New Yorkers' trust in their government."

But that still leaves Larry, Curly and Moe - er, Soares, Hamann and the Public Integrity Commission.

All three were hopelessly conflicted from the start:

* Soares owed much to Spitzer - starting with the former gov's endorsement of him in his '04 run for DA.

The two also shared support from the Working Families Party - which spent $165,000 on the DA's race.

Some $81,500 of that, in turn, came from the Drug Policy Alliance Network, a radical left-wing group that opposes the war on drugs and is funded by even more left-wing billionaire George Soros.

No wonder Soares tried to whitewash his fellow Dem and WFP candidate's Dirty Tricks, claiming that the former gov was entitled to target Bruno. Soares changed his tune after Spitzer quit - but still went easy on his ol' pal.

* Hamann, meanwhile, owed her job to Spitzer. She never completed a probe, but she let everyone think she had.

* Spitzer picked most of the Public Integrity Commission's members. Its executive director's law firm backed him financially, and the panel reportedly conferred with his folks on its "probe."

So let's see what kind of job the Commission on Investigation can do. Hey, if its probe of the other probes falls short, maybe Andrew Cuomo can probe that.