A morale boost for LIPA workers

Long Island Power Authority boss John McMahon recently took a wad of cash from his pocket at a meeting and handed out $50 bills to staffers, urging them to go to dinner on him, sources said. The gesture to boost morale came with the embattled public utility under fire over superstorm Sandy and facing the prospect of being largely dismantled under Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's plan.

Mark Gross, LIPA spokesman, acknowledged McMahon's handouts of "his own personal money" but gave no further details. McMahon makes $275,000 a year as CEO. In 2010, the year before he retired as chief of Con Edison's subsidiary Orange and Rockland Utilities, McMahon's total compensation was $5.2 million.-- Rick Brand