Newsday reported this week that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has sent out 200 letters around the state seeking information on jobs and benefits provided private lawyers, and now other professionals as well, who have been living large on the public dime.
More than half of the 200 letters, which seek specific information about jobs and benefits such as pension credits, have been sent to lawyers. The rest – in a significant expansion of Cuomo’s investigation – have gone to civil engineers, accountants and doctors who have been employees of local governments and school districts. The names of the recipients of the letters on Long Island could not be learned.
“We have found waste, fraud and abuse in all corners of the state regarding public benefits improperly awarded to outside consultants. This is a significant step in the expansion of the investigation,” said Cuomo spokesman John Milgrim.
And they’ve barely scratched the surface.
While the investigation is expanding (a good thing), it still remains limited to relatively obvious wrongs, such as private contractors to public entities being claimed as employees for the purpose of obtaining the sweet package of benefits that goes with public employment. These are great perks for the beneficiaries, and nice little gifts for local politicos because they fly under the public’s radar. Sure, the public pays for it, but you would have to look long and hard to see where the dollars are buried.
Unfortunately, I can’t imagine how Cuomo’s office could possibly have the time and manpower to dig deep enough to understand the depth and scope of the problems, going well beyond the obvious pension issues and into the daily decision-making that sustains waste and abuse. Between the ignorance, deceit and arrogance of petty elected and appointed officials, and the culture of concealment and enabling by the handful of professionals who are theoretically supposed to keep the asylum under control, it’s a morass of fraud, waste and abuse.
Unlike those who are disaffected by the decisions, or those who merely complain because their taxes are “too high,” this is about what happens when you put a bunch of people who desperately want a little power and recognition to compensate for their lack of dinner invitations in charge of things. While lawprofs ponder high ideals, and trench lawyers like me ponder lower ones, they ponder nothing. Lacking any real ideology, or firm interest in public service, those inclined to run for lesser public office, in a not-so-silent cry for attention, become children in a candy store when they finally grab hold of a little power.
This is where local government meets Lord of the Flies, and we pay for it, both in ineffective government as well as the hard costs of corruption and mismanagement. I wish Andy Cuomo well, because he has his work cut out for him. If he’s sincere in having an impact on the problem, however, he still has a long, long way to go before he gets to the heart of the problem.
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While this is a great start to saving the state tax payers money, Cuomo, Jerry Brown and all other state attorney generals could look at criminal prosecution and develop a just plan for prosecution and sentencing of drug offenders.
What people forget is that there is a poorly reasoned and poorly written AG Opinion which gives enough tacit approval of the actions that no one should be prosecuted under it.
Further, the AG and the Newsday fails to point out that these small local governments use these “Perks” to spread the cost from their districts to a statewide fund. These arrangements save these districts a bundle in getting the kind of legal help they want at a fraction of the cost.
Given the waste in large systems like NYC or Buffalo, which takes up a lot of money in school tax dollars, this is the only way some of these other districts can have the legal and other professional help they need without over burdening the taxpayers of the district.
While it is not necessarily how the money should be spent, no one, not even Andy Cuomo has the power to bring back all of the waste in the budget. If he succeeds with this attempt, it could wind up costing far more than it does now with fewer people paying the cost. This will increase the pressure on legislators to bring home money in State School aid, and that will come out of… NY and Buffalo schools.
Remember the old AT&T monopoly case?? Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.
TLD
PS I do not participate in any state pension plans or get other perks from any locality or state or federal government that I am aware of. I am just not willing to hang these hard working attorneys and other professionals for getting their fees paid in a creative way. I want to see proof of Fraud.
This is either the worst defense of an improper practice or a condemnation hidden within a weak defense. Your argument supporting the practice provides the rationale for why it’s corrupt.
So a school district makes decisions to give “perks” to their lawyer by deliberately misdesignating them as ful-time employees and covertly shifts the cost to state taxpayers, without their knowledge or approval? What’s that funny smell?
So it’s acceptable for a small taxing entity to create a fictitious full time job to burden taxpayers outside the district? School districts have no right to enjoy services and engage in a scam to make others pay for them. The solution to high taxes is not to commit fraud.
Your argument not only fails to provide a defense to this fraud, but demonstrates precisely why it was wrong. How can you possibly argue that districts should be entitled to engage in deceptions because it’s good for their taxpayers at the expense of other taxpayers?
You’ve made the case for fraud, and it’s not up to you to decide that fraud is fine as long as it’s good for you as a taxpayer. As for the “hard working attorneys” (whatever that means), had they worked a little harder, perhaps they would not have induced and advised their districts that committing fraud is a great idea. Save your tears. The people who benefited from this scam were the professionals retained for the purpose of advising school districts how to comply with the law, not break it.