Nassau GOP lawmakers OK $2M in legal deals

Nassau Republican lawmakers have approved more than $2 million in outside legal contracts to law firms associated with political figures including Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello.

The firms include Bartlett, McDonough & Monaghan, where Nassau University Medical Center Chairman Craig Rizzo is a partner; Rivkin Radler, the former law firm of County Executive Edward Mangano; Cuomo LLC, the law firm of Matthew Cuomo, a cousin of Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, and Albanese & Albanese, where former County Executive Thomas Gulotta is special counsel.

The GOP-controlled Rules Committee on Monday voted 4-3 along party lines to authorize four new contracts and extend 12 existing agreements for a total of $2.15 million.

But Legis. Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn) complained that Republicans were trying to "short-circuit" an ongoing audit of Nassau's contracting procedures.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli began the audit this month at the request of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, which took control of the county's finances a year ago.

Republicans "want to push as much through as they possibly can," Wink said after the meeting. "If the audit comes down and says their procedures were flawed, it's like 'Whoops.' In the meantime, they're getting more than $2 million of contracts through."

Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) dismissed the complaint. "Why don't we just stop the business of government and wait for the state comptroller?" he asked at the meeting.

DiNapoli spokeswoman Kate Gurnett echoed Schmitt: "We don't expect ongoing governmental operations to stop when we do audits, and we will not be 'ruling' on individual contracts themselves," she said in a statement this week. "Rather, we will . . . [assess] overall contracting and procurement systems."

County Attorney John Ciampoli told lawmakers the money for the contracts was included in a $6.8 million budget transfer they approved in December to pay for outside contracts, or is part of $2.8 million budgeted this year. The $6.8 million transfer for already-completed legal work prompted NIFA's request for DiNapoli's audit.

"These contracts are going to their friends -- that's always been a bone of contention of ours," said Michael Florio, spokesman for legislative Democrats. Asked about the contract for Matthew Cuomo's firm, Florio said, "We're opposed to all outside contracts."

Ciampoli said he hires firms based on their skill and experience, not political connections. They are paid discounted rates and work with his deputy attorneys to provide expertise not available on staff, he said.

"This is a county with a $2.6 billion budget and people are arguing about spending between $2 and $7 million to prevent hundreds of millions of dollars in liability to the county," Ciampoli said.

Some of the contracts approved Monday have already been completed, such as work by the law firm of attorney Peter Bee on an election dispute, as well as Rivkin Radler's representation related to the NIFA takeover.

Two contracts are extensions and do not increase the amount, including a $250,000 contract for the firm of Berkman, Henoch, Peterson, Peddy & Fenchel, where Mondello is of counsel.