Some lawyers saw pensions as "perk of partnership"

For lawyers of an Albany area law firm, getting a public pension for no-show jobs at a BOCES was a "perk of partnership," the head of the state investigation said yesterday.

[Anonymous]

Do not be fooled. These "settlements" only sweep the state, particularly the Retirement System's, knowing participation in this practice under the rug. If you think that the System was not aware of this practice for many, many years, and acquiesced to it, think again. These OSC operatives have gone on to bigger and better things and they do not want their hands dirtied by this scandal.

[Vox Populi]

too upset to even comment how lightweight these "settlements" are so far. Probation? disbarment? Professional sanctions?

Oh I see - this way it will "look like" someone is metering out some kind of justice.

Anonymous poster ahead of me got it right. No hope folks. Corruption rules THROUGHOUT in NYS and esp. on Long Island.

[screw the taxpayers]

scary how much corruption is right under our noses until its exposed , then the "i didnt know & the not me" syndromes appear

please stop denying fraud

[anonymoustoo]

Anonymous wrote:

Do not be fooled. These "settlements" only sweep the state, particularly the Retirement System's, knowing participation in this practice under the rug. If you think that the System was not aware of this practice for many, many years, and acquiesced to it, think again. These OSC operatives have gone on to bigger and better things and they do not want their hands dirtied by this scandal.

We should be very concerned Long Island. This just about says it all:
Northport Observer, 23 July 2007: "Board of Ed Upholds its Anonymous Letter Policy
By KELLY CAMPBELL
When anonymous letters arrive in the post office box reserved for Northport-East Northport School District Board of Education members or administrators, Clerk Christa McCulloch follows the Board of Education’s policy and throws them away without further review.
After a lengthy discussion at its July 2 meeting, the Board voted 4-2 to continue that policy, number 8346, which reads, "Anonymous communications will be ignored and destroyed, and will not be processed in accord with the procedures contained in this policy.” Those procedures include marking the document with a “received” stamp and recording the date. Trustees Denise Summers Mumm and Phil Fortuna voted no.
Board President Arlene Munson supported upholding the policy stating,“I can’t contact or protect Mr. or Mrs. Anonymity.”
Policy 8346 has been the topic of several discussions at Board meetings this past year but has become seemingly intertwined with the district’s “whistleblower” policy meant to address how district employees can anonymously report alleged misdeeds by their fellow employees.
In October, during a controversial discussion about extra pay assignments for teachers, Trustee Denise Summers Mumm said that a teacher who had wished to apply for an available position, but who felt intimidated by other teachers who had held the position previously, had written an anonymous letter to the Board that Trustee Mumm wanted the rest of the Board to see.
At that time, Trustee Steve Meyerowitz said that the Board had a policy regarding anonymous letters that he wished to stick to.“I would request a copy of that before we start spreading around the content of anonymous letters,” he said.
Trustee Mumm said that she felt the Board should review the policy to ensure that pertinent information is not going unread simply because a letter-writer is nervous about their career or children’s education being affected.
School District Attorney John Gross of the law firm Ingerman Smith stated that he would have his staff research the subject of anonymous mail received by the Board and the Board’s responsibility if a consequence occurs arising from the anonymous mail. At a meeting the next month, Mr. Gross reported that Ingerman Smith deemed the Board’s policy legally adequate.

[anonymoustoo]

lawyers can't deem things legally adequate- judges and legislatures can, but not lawyers. This is what happens when unbridled arrogance meets up with a small finite number of unsophisticated public customers with unlimited public funds.

Query counselor: what on earth would be more important for a school board to see than anonymous letters from members the community? WHY wouldn't the school board, in fulfilling their fiduciary duties, want to and demand to see anonymous letters?

Long Island, this is scary stuff...we have entered the twilight zone...

[How Come]

Obviously, one reason a board has no interest in seeing anonymous letters is because most of them are full of untruths or misinformation, based on some disgruntled person's complaint about their treatment.

Too many crackpots out there would start writing a bunch of garbage just for the sake of getting their jollies when the letter ends up being discussed in public session! What a waste of the board's time!

Anyone with legitimate complaints or concerns should have the conviction of their honesty behind them and sign their names.

Or if a board agrees to read anonymous letters they should certainly have the right to throw them out and not even address them in public if found to be totally irrelevant to anything. Just because someone writes an anonymous letter doesn't make it worth anyone's while.

[shocked]

How Come wrote:

Obviously, one reason a board has no interest in seeing anonymous letters is because most of them are full of untruths or misinformation, based on some disgruntled person's complaint about their treatment.
Too many crackpots out there would start writing a bunch of garbage just for the sake of getting their jollies when the letter ends up being discussed in public session! What a waste of the board's time!
Anyone with legitimate complaints or concerns should have the conviction of their honesty behind them and sign their names.
Or if a board agrees to read anonymous letters they should certainly have the right to throw them out and not even address them in public if found to be totally irrelevant to anything. Just because someone writes an anonymous letter doesn't make it worth anyone's while.

You sir or madam are:

either a school board member and/or have not a clue and/or both. By the way, have you ever seen the three inches of garbage that comes in the twice or thrice weekly "official school board packets" from the corrupt school board administrators of LI, for the express purpose of snowing the school board members with b u l l **** e?>

[Get It Straight]

Ex-board member and yes I have received hundreds of those packets. Garbage? I think not. It's all the business of the district that boards must read and understand and sometimes vote on. Good board members will question those things that don't seem right, that they don't understand, that they want changed etc. Rubber-stampers don't do that, if they even read the packets.

I've seen my share of anonymous letters in my time and frankly, none of them were worth my time. Incorrect names, misspellings, inflammatory accusations with no basis in fact... and these supposedly from teachers? Sorry, I didn't pay attention to those. Again, if anyone wanted to give me or the board information, they should have had the honesty and the conviction of their beliefs and the knowledge that I'd never betray a confidence, to sign their name. Then we could talk.

[straight]

Get It Straight wrote:

Ex-board member and yes I have received hundreds of those packets. Garbage? I think not. It's all the business of the district that boards must read and understand and sometimes vote on. Good board members will question those things that don't seem right, that they don't understand, that they want changed etc. Rubber-stampers don't do that, if they even read the packets.
I've seen my share of anonymous letters in my time and frankly, none of them were worth my time. Incorrect names, misspellings, inflammatory accusations with no basis in fact... and these supposedly from teachers? Sorry, I didn't pay attention to those. Again, if anyone wanted to give me or the board information, they should have had the honesty and the conviction of their beliefs and the knowledge that I'd never betray a confidence, to sign their name. Then we could talk.

school board packets for the board members is nothing more than sanitized drivel. Keep telling yourself that you were seeing the important stuff all those years champion (while the administrators were laughing at you behind your back for being such a mindless a hole working for free while they were carting the wheelbarrows of money out the back door). I'm sure you'll disagree with this too superstar.

And the anonymous letter thing- you truly have no clue how vicious and vindictive school administrators can be to people's children if they put their name on a whistleblower letter, or, you know full well and your just doing the school party line thing- either way- you're a sad sack. Go read the canned school board school packet you got in the mail today. It will be as productive as watching scooby doo cartoon reruns from the 70's, but it will make you feel good so what the heck.