Joseph LaRussa backs out of Nassau contract oversight job

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s appointee to oversee the county’s contracting system has turned down the job after the administration asked him to explain an “inconsistency” on his resume, officials said Tuesday.

Joseph LaRussa, 53, of Hauppauge, was to start March 14 as the county’s new $120,000-a-year Director of Procurement Compliance, a position recommended by a panel Mangano formed last year in the wake of several county contracting scandals.

The administration announced LaRussa’s appointment Feb. 22, citing his private sector experience and lack of ties to Mangano, a Republican.

On Friday, officials asked LaRussa about the resume “inconsistency,” which was discovered during the final paperwork process, said Deputy County Executive Ed Ward. Ward declined to be more specific.

“We asked him to explain something on his resume, and, I guess, rather than do that he chose to withdraw,” Ward said in an interview.

Ward provided an email LaRussa sent to him on Saturday: “It is with regret that after having some additional time to ‘think over’ the position, that I wish to withdraw myself from the process and remain within the private sector,” LaRussa wrote.

On Tuesday, LaRussa repeated his explanation. Asked to identify the county’s issue with his resume, he said, “It’s not relevant.”

LaRussa’s resume, provided by the administration, listed his current job as a procurement services specialist at Kelly OCG, a Michigan-based employment outsourcing company. A spokeswoman for Kelly said the company does not comment on current or former employees.

The previous three jobs on the resume, from 2006 to 2013, were at Islandia-based CA Technologies. A company spokesman last week had confirmed LaRussa’s employment.

His resume also listed jobs at eight other private companies between 1983 and 2006.

Ward said the administration will review other potential candidates. LaRussa was among more than 20 people who responded to public postings for the county procurement compliance job in recent months, which Ward said cost the county $40,000 to publish.

In the meantime, Ward said Nassau will seek advice from other counties’ contracting chiefs and temporarily fill the post with Alan Gurien, a former county comptroller.

“We’re going to move forward, possibly in another direction,” Ward said.

Democrats including District Attorney Madeline Singas and the county legislature’s minority caucus have criticized the procurement compliance chief position as lacking independence from the administration. They instead want to create an inspector general’s office with subpoena power to investigate questionable contracts.

By Paul LaRocco

paul.larocco@newsday.com@paullarocco

Paul LaRocco is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in late 2010, he has also covered Nassau and Suffolk county politics and government and the Town of Oyster Bay.