The Kessel Cover-Up

Why is Richie Kessel stonewalling Street Corner Conservative’s FOIL request for information about improper and abusive contributions?

How long can it take to compile a list of NYPA 501(c)3 contributions?

On August 23, 2010, over fifteen weeks ago, Street Corner Conservative (SCC) filed a short FOIL e-mail with NYPA requesting, among other things, disclosure of NYPA contributions to not-for-profits in 2009 and 2010.  On September 14, 2010, SCC received a response from NYPA’s corporate secretary stating the Authority would release FOIL material “on or about October 26, 2010.”  That date came and went.  On November 1, SCC received another notification putting off the release of documents until December 7, 2010.  And that date came and went.  On December 7, SCC received the following notification putting off the release of documents until January 18, 2011 — about five months since the initial request:

Dear Mr. Marlin:

 This is in further response to your e-mail dated August 23, 2010 and received by this office on August 23, 2010, requesting the following records:

 1.     Information and records as to contributions and payments to not-for-profit entities from NYPA or any subsidiary or affiliate including purchase of tickets or sponsorships to events conducted by any such not-for-profit for the period January 1, 2009 through and including July 31, 2010;

2.     Information as to each NYPA facility or office the President and CEO of NYPA was physically present in during each business day of the period from February 13, 2009 through and including July 31, 2010.

3.     Information and records as to discussions, memoranda, financial and analyses and information as to any proposed merger, consolidation, combination or other transaction of any kind between or among NYPA and the Long Island Power Authority created (whether or not by or on behalf of NYPA) from February 13, 2009 and through and including July 31, 2010;

4.     Information and records as to health insurance coverage or benefits or indemnification against health insurance coverage provided to any NYPA Board member;

5.     Information and records as to use of cars in NYPA’s car pool for the White Plains office from the period from September 1, 2008 through and including July 31, 2010 by any of Richard Kessel, Bert Cunningham, Rocco Iannarelli, Francine Evans, Sarah Barish Straus, Denise Ellison, Roni Epstein, Victoria Simon and Francis X. Ryan (collectively, the “Subject Employees”);

6.     Information and records as to expense reports by any of the Subject Employees filed during or with respect to the period (or any part thereof) September 1, 2008 through and including July 31, 2010.

With regard to items 3 and 4 above, a search of the Authority’s records has not produced any records responsive to any portion of your request.

With regard to items 1, 2, 5 and 6 above, Authority staff will need an additional period of time to identify, locate, retrieve and review any such responsive records and will contact you on or about January 18, 2011 with the status of your request.

Sincerely,

Karen Delince
Corporate Secretary
New York Power Authority

Since SCC’s initial request, North Korea has threatened war, the Yankees were dismissed from post season play, control of the House of Representatives has shifted to the GOP, natural disasters have struck the globe, the Roman Catholic Church has named new cardinals, and Oprah has retired but the NYPA bureaucracy continues its cover-up to protect Kessel’s sinecure.

Is Richie Kessel stonewalling the FOIL request because there have been abusive NYPA contributions of public monies?  Does Kessel fear that releasing the contribution list would trigger an Inspector General investigation before our new governor takes office?

This entry was posted on December 12, 2010 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Richie Kessel NYPA Watch-SCC. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.