How can Mack plead the 5th from where he sits?
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How can someone invoke his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination in an investigation - and then hold on to police positions, even if they are unpaid and understood to be honorary?
Thomas Mungeer, the New York State Troopers PBA president, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo pointedly prompted that question yesterday following the disclosure that prominent Long Islander David S. Mack "asserted his Fifth Amendment rights as to every question asked of him" in Cuomo's probe of alleged political influence in the State Police.
He did so 37 times last October, officials say. A person familiar with the investigation said it was "hard to fathom" why, since Mack was asked "innocuous" questions. An attorney has said he advised him to do so.
Mack, from a high-profile real estate family, and a generous donor to civic causes and campaigns - his name even adorns the impressive Hofstra exhibition hall where last fall's presidential debate was held - is also a police buff.
In 1995, having supported Gov. George Pataki in his first campaign the previous year, Mack was appointed to the unsalaried post of Deputy Superintendent, Facilities Management, of the New York State Police.
In his report of the inquiry requested by Gov. David A. Paterson, concerning possible "political interference" in the State Police, Cuomo said Mack's appointment "appears to have been politically motivated and negatively impacted morale in the rank and file of the State Police."
Through a spokesman, Mack on Wednesday said he "fully cooperated with authorities and used his constitutional rights to decline answers to questions, many of which went back to events that took place some 14 years ago." Cuomo's office rebuts the cooperation claim, saying: "Nothing could be further from the truth."
Mack no longer has the State Police post. By all accounts, he will soon be off the boards of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the bistate Port Authority.
But it appears that he remains an "assistant police commissioner" for the Nassau County Police Department, the domain of Democratic County Executive Thomas Suozzi, who kept Mack on the MTA board, after he'd first been appointed by Suozzi's GOP predecessor, Thomas Gulotta.
Asked by Newsday whether this police position was affected by revelations that Mack took the Fifth, Suozzi spokeswoman Jennifer Kim answered, "No." Mack also says in his MTA Web site biography that he is or has been first deputy commissioner for Long Beach - as well as a member of the Judicial Screening Committee for Nassau judges.
On Tuesday, when Paterson called for Mack to step down from the MTA and the PA, he added, "We would like him to resign from all other government-related appointments." In his defense, a spokesman for Mack said Wednesday, "Mr. Mack's role as a public servant has been exemplary" and cited supportive statements from the previous troopers' PBA president.
For fans of political subtext: Cuomo and Suozzi are seen as rivals within state Democratic circles. Records indicate that Ruth Mack, Mack's mother, contributed $17,500 to Friends of Tom Suozzi last year. David Mack has contributed to Cuomo and Paterson.
