Police Commissioner Tangney Made $302,000.00 in 2012 While Violent Crime Skyrocketed & Mandel-Goggin Raised Taxes 3 Times!

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According to Newsday, violent crime in Long Beach has skyrocketed 14% since Mike Tangney was appointed Police Commissioner. While violent crime has skyrocketed  Police Commissioner Tangney's annual salary for 2012 salary did as well; to $301,926 and to pay for these types of outrageous salaries the Mandel-Goggin Administration raised our property taxes 3 times in less than 365 days.

Long Beach's Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) reveal that Police Commissioner Michael Tangney made $301,926.00 last year! 

While Tangney was collecting his outrageous salary, violent crime in Long Beach grew 14%. The violent crime rate in the United States increased only slightly, 1.4% during the same period (2011-12).  During the same period the New York City Crime Rate increased only 3.4%!!

Tangney's annual 2012 salary, according to his W-2 Form, is nearly  $100,000 more than NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly! Furthermore, based on the recently approved PBA contract, Tangney may also receive upwards of an additional $100,000 more in retroactive salary!

In the midst of a so-called "fiscal crisis" and after the Mandel-Goggin Administration raised property taxes three (3) times in one year, LBPD's three (3) "top cops," all new appointees under the Mandel-Goggin Administration, combined to make nearly $650,000 in their very first year in their new positions.

During the same year, City Manager Jack Schnirman, City Council President Scott Mandel, and Council Members Eileen Goggin, Fran Adelson and Len Torres raised resident's property taxes three (3) times in less 365 days to pay for the city's so- called "fiscal crisis".

While Police Commissioner Mike Tangney topped the salary charts, he was followed by two of his close friends and fellow Democratic Party cronies, Lt. Daniel Larson and Lt. Stephan Chernaski.

City documents show that former Democratic Clubhouse supporter, PBA President and first year Lieutenant Stephan Chernaski collected a whopping $172,020.11 in 2012. Keep in mind that in the same year, the Mandel, Adelson, and Torres Administration awarded Chernaski a settlement worth hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars including three promotions and a clause that states he can never be demoted, for any reason!

Lt. Daniel Larson also cashed in big time making an outrageous $166,672.39. Larson, a longtime Democratic Clubhouse supporter, was hand-picked by Tangney to be the PD's Executive Officer last year, the same year he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

Combined Tangney, Chernaski and Larson made $640,618.50 in a single year!  Ironically Mandel, Adelson, Schnirman and Torres 2011 displayed public outage towards former Commissioner Sofield's salary which was almost half what Tangney made. Where is Mandel, Goggin, Adelson, Torres' outrage now? Is there a double standard? Didn't Mandel, Torres and Adelson go to court to stop Sofield's payout in December 2011? I haven't heard a single word from anyone one about Tangney's pay. They made it appear they were protecting the taxpayers. Who is protecting the taxpayers now? 

Keep in mind that all three (3) officers (Tangney, Larson, and Chernaski) may receive upwards of an additional $100,000 each in retroactive salary based on the recently approved PBA contract!

Considering the staggering amount of money involved, the question  becomes how did these employees make such outrageous and enormous salaries? We were told that Mike Tangney's annual salary was supposed to be a whopping $185,000, and that alone drew sharp public criticism. So how did he nearly double his salary, especially if is not eligible for overtime? Did he collect overtime and if he did how is it possible when as an “exempt” employee, like Tangney, is not eligible for overtime? Was it earned and/or awarded illegally? Who approves overtime for Tangney? Did Tangney cash out some of the termination pay (vacation, compensatory time, etc.) he collected over his career? If he did, that is suspect as well because as I understand it termination pay can only be awarded after the employee separates from service, meaning he retires from city employment, which he obviously did not.

Furthermore, given the city's so-called "fiscal crisis" how can the city possibly afford to pay Tangney this huge sum of money especially after the Mandel-Goggin administration laid off 25 hard-wording, lowest paid CSEA workers and fired others in the name of a so-called "fiscal crisis?" Were other workers lives utterly ruined so Tangney can pad his salary and his pension?

Speaking of Tangney's pension; could it possible that Tangney is purposely trying to increase, or "pad" his police pension?  As I understand it, police pensions are based on the officer's three highest consecutive years' salary. Thus if Tangney pumps up his annual salary for the next three years, like it appears he is doing, if he will retires in two years his pension will be based on these huge salaries, not his ordinary salary. Potentially, based on these enormous salaries Tangney may collect a taxpayer-funded pension potentially worth around $180,000 a year! Keep in mind this may not include his "golden parachute" police payout that is rumored to be worth over $600,000.00!

I attempted to obtain a copy of Commissioner Tangney's employment  contract under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) but the city has refused to answer my twelve (12) separate FOIL requests and multiple appeals to the City Manager, Jack Schnirman, for the documents (Click HERE to see all 12 FOIL requests and appeals). What is the Mandel-Goggin Administration hiding? If Tangney has a contract why is it such a secret? It appears that Mandel and Goggin do not want the taxpayers to see the terms of the contract. Shouldn't the taxpayers know what the details are especially when they were led to believe that his salary was "only" $185,000 per year? What other outrageous terms exist in the contract we do not know about? Where is the transparency the Mandel-Goggin Administration promised?

How could Tangney, Larson and Chernaski make these enormous salaries? Where was City Manager Jack Schnirman while this was happening? It appears he was asleep at the steering wheel. In the same year these salaries were earned Schnirman and the Mandel Administration proudly announced how the administration was "targeting overtime" and Newsday wrote an article announcing just that. On February 3, 2012 Bloomberg wrote, "Schnirman hasstopped overtime, frozen hiring and also is reviewing Long Beach’s finances."   But then again, we also know that the Mandel-Goggin Administration hired over 25 "family and friends" of the Democrat Clubhouse during this "hiring freeze" and fiscal crisis. The Long Beach Herald reported that Schnirman, "Put a halt to overtime spending as he attempts to implement strict cost controls and the administration seeks to declare a fiscal crisis."  Cost controls? Seriously? And that same year, Tangney made $302,000.00, Chenaski made $172,000 and Larson made $167,000? Who is kidding who here?

These outrageous salaries were paid on the back of hardworking, struggling taxpayers who had their taxes raised three (3) times in less than 365 days in the name of a so-called “fiscal crisis.”

This calls into question the very foundations of the Mandel Administration’s ethics, judgment, and their ability to tell the truth and run the city in an efficient manner. How can Mandel and Goggin raise our taxes three (3) times in less than 365 days in the name of a so-called “fiscal crisis," state there is a “hiring freeze,” and yet make multiple promotions and hire over 25 "family and friends", all while allowing Tangney and others collect these enormous salaries, especially when Schnirman supposedly "stopped” all overtime in January of 2012, the same year these salaries were earned?

In my opinion, this is simply more proof that the "fiscal crisis" was not the "crisis" the Mandel-Goggin Administration said it was, thought it was, or what they wanted taxpayers to think it was.  After all, if there was no "fiscal crisis, what excuse would Scott Mandel and Eileen Goggin have to raise taxes three (3) times in less than 365 days? It just simply doesn't add up. Clearly, what the Mandel-Goggin Administration says and what it does, do not match up.

What else has the Mandel-Goggin-Schnirman Administration mislead the residents of Long Beach about?

The Long Beach Taxpayers deserve answers to these questions. Council President Scott Mandel and Council Member Eileen Goggin need to answer directly to them, and do it immediately. Residents don't want to be misled any longer; they want and deserve the truth, especially when it's their tax dollars at work.