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The Mandel City Council has apparently secretly appointed the LB Democrat Clubhouse's highest paid employee to what appears to be a secret position on a board exactly like others that NY State Attorney General Schneiderman has said "have the potential for self-dealing, nepotism, improper loans and exorbitant expenses."
The Mandel administration has appeared to appoint Stuart Osnow to a lead position on the newly formed, and until now "secret", Long Beach Local Development Corporation (LBLDC). Local Development Corporations are very suspicious in their own right; I'll get to that later. But Osnow is controversial for a number of reasons. First, his is the single most highly paid employee of the Long Beach Democratic Club. Since 2010, Osnow's Company, Prime NY, has been paid over $20,000 for political consulting and campaign services he provided to Scott Mandel and his fellow council members, Fran Adelson and Len Torres. This puts the single most highly paid political employee of the local Democrat Clubhouse in a lead position of an important board that could be vital to Long Beach's recovery from Hurricane Sandy. Why appoint Osnow? Could this be payback for his
'services" to the political party clubhouse?
Osnow's appointment is the latest addition to the very long list of friends and family appointed by the Scott Mandel led City Council. This appointment brings the number of politically connected family and friends brought into city government to over 25 since Scott Mandel and his running mates promised not to appoint any family or friends to city positions. The promise was made on the candidates' website and repeatedly throughout the fall 2011 campaign. These hirings have occurred during a hiring freeze and have cost taxpayers well over $1 million!
But in many ways this appointment is worse than "usual" in that it is more blatantly political in nature, even by new City Council President's Scott Mandel's low standards, and it involves a matter of great importance to our city.
Oddly enough, it appears that the City is making the appointments to the LDC in secret because no announcements have been made of any appointments to the LDC, since it was formed in August. The information on Osnow's appointment comes from Osnow's LinkedIn account. According to Osnow, "The Long Beach Local Development Corporation is created to assist the City financially and in planning its recovery. While the LDC is new to Long Beach, the entity exists in virtually all cities in New York and is a legal recognized entity for support. I serve as the LDC secretary," wrote Osnow.
During the 2011 campaign Mandel and his council colleagues promised to post the name of all appointees to boards and commissions on the city website in an effort to be transparent. However, the city has been silent o about who has been appointed to serve on the LDC. No announcement has ever been made by the city regarding who serves on the LBLDC and how the search for the lead members was conducted. In fact, there is no mention whatsoever of any appointments made to the LBLDC anywhere that I could find. Why the secrecy?
The uncovering of this information begs a number of important questions. Is Osnow telling the truth? Was he really appointed? If he was appointed, who made the appointment and when? Who else was appointed, by who, and when? Is the City making the appointments behind closed doors, and if so why? Also, do the members of the LBLDC get any salary or compensation, like most LDC;s directors and employees get?? And if yes, how much and who funds those salaries?
If Osnow isn't telling the full truth about his appointment, it wouldn't be the first time he has been caught trying to pull a fast one on the residents of the City. During the city council campaign of 2011 Osnow posted many biased and pro-democrat articles on the Patch. Many of those articles were extremely critical of the city council at the time blasting them for a number of their policies. He wrote the Patch articles as a "concerned citizen." Then it was uncovered that Osnow was actually a highly paid political consultant to Scott Mandel, Long Beach Democrat Party Boss Mike Zapson, and candidates Fran Adelson and Len Torres, not just a "concerned citizen." The scandal was uncovered and Osnow was forced to reveal his paid relationship with the local Democrat clubhouse, City Council President Scott Mandel and Zapson.
What is more concerning is that Local Development Corporations are widely known for their lack of transparency and their use in promoting political cronyism and have been under the review of both the State Attorney General and the State Comptroller.
If the Mandel Administration is going to pack the LBLDC with political operative, cronies and hacks, what real good will the LDC do for the recovery of the city? Maybe this is the plan? Let me explain....
NY State Attorney General Schneiderman has said "have the potential for self-dealing, nepotism, improper loans and exorbitant expenses." There's more: According to New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, "Local governments are supposed to use LDCs for economic development purposes. But we found that isn't always the case. Time after time, our auditors uncovered LDCs being used to skirt the laws governing local government operations. And that's costing taxpayers money." Furthermore, according to DiNapoli, LDC's are subject to state law which require them to be "transparent" especially when it comes to their fiscal transactions and budgets. However, a report concludes that more than half of the LDC's in NY failed to file the proper reports and financial disclosures required by law!! LDCs are obviously a vehicle that have been used and exploited for less than noble actions. So why does Long Beach Need one?
Furthermore, a recent New York attorney general's review of local development corporations has uncovered the potential for self-dealing, nepotism, improper loans and exorbitant expenses.
Maybe this all makes perfect "Mandel-ian" political sense. According to Comptroller DiNapoli, Local Development Corporations are infested with transparency issues and are so out of control that they have actually cost taxpayers more money because LDC's have been used to avoid state finance laws. This may explain exactly why Mandel and his colleagues want to fill the LBLDC with political operatives, cronies, family members and friends. Maybe Mandel is purposefully using the LDC as the vehicle to reward his political friends under the guise of a legitimate and supposedly helpful and worthwhile board?
Sorry to possibly ruin your plans, Mr. Mandel....the cat is out of the bag!
If the Mandel Administration put as much effort into what matters for our city, such as the recovery, out of control spending, borrowing, and TAXES as they do for promoting, hiring, and rewarding their political friends and family members, the city would be much better off.
Shame on your Mr. Mandel! You should stop working so hard for your family and political friends and start working for the taxpayers of Long Beach like you were elected and entrusted to do!
