By Alan S. Chartock

A long, long time ago, I spent the summers on Fire Island with my family. My best friend, now passed, was Jon Lipsky, who went on to develop a tremendous reputation as a teacher and a playwright of the first order. His older brother, Michael, became an eminent professor at MIT and a formidable administrator at the Ford Foundation. Their younger brother, David, became a scientist and was largely responsible for the New York City water supply. Their father, Eleazar, was the author of many important novels and an assistant district attorney in the office of the legendary DA Frank Hogan. My friend’s cousins included the son and daughter of a publicist, “Uncle David.” Publicist David Lipsky’s daughter, Lisa, ran the Fire Island movie house. The youngest son, young enough for me not to have really known him, was Richard Lipsky. I just remember Richard as a little kid with his stomach hanging out over a bathing suit, walking barefoot in Ocean Beach. For a while it looked like Richard would follow in the footsteps of his distinguished cousins. He did well at college and then went on to earn a Ph.D. in political science.

The next time I heard about Richard Lipsky, I was publishing The Legislative Gazette in Albany and teaching at SUNY New Paltz and Albany. Instead of sticking with an academic career, Richard became a lobbyist and enjoyed some success. He was terrific at gaming the press. He would call the editors and offer them tidbits and stories. Like his dad, he had a temper. Eventually, his success as a lobbyist began to wane, and he fell in with Carl Kruger, the man I have always called the “Bad Kruger.” The “Good Krueger” is Sen. Liz Krueger, a brilliant public servant who seems earnestly devoted to the public good. The Bad Kruger is a complicated man, apparently shaped by a very hard childhood. Today he is seemingly uncommitted to contemporary ethical standards. As you probably know by now, the Bad Kruger took a turn for the worse when he deserted his professional responsibilities and went on the take. People would go to a designated lobbyist—none other than the kid in the bathing suit, Richard Lipsky—and give him money to put the fix in with the Bad Kruger, who would make things happen. When the FBI apprehended Richard Lipsky, there was money all over his home at the prestigious Normandy apartments on the West Side.

This is all a matter of public record. Both the Bad Kruger and Richard Lipsky were caught so red-handed that denial was impossible. They both pleaded guilty and are off to prison. Both made a public show of remorse. At his sentencing, the lawyer for the Bad Kruger made the defense that his client wasn’t as bad as some of the others in politics. I am sure that this did not sit well with the members of the Legislature. The U.S. district judge in the case, Jed S. Rakoff, took note of the good things that the Bad Kruger had done and let him off with a lighter sentence than the federal prosecutors were seeking. Richard Lipsky, the little kid in the blue bathing suit, will also go to prison.

I guess the point is that when you see some kid on the beach, maybe sucking his thumb, it’s possible that 50 years later that kid may turn out to be a brain surgeon or he may turn out to be a crook. The whole thing gives me the shivers. When I talked to my best friend Jon just before he passed and mentioned what was happening to his cousin Richard, Jon said, “Yeah, I know.” I’ve been wondering whether he saw it coming.

Unlike others who have no empathy, I just hate to see this happen to anyone. If you look into the childhoods of Carl Kruger and Richard Lipsky, you might find some clues about what was going to happen.

Alan S. Chartock is president and CEO of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio and an executive publisher at The Legislative Gazette.

By Dan Garodnick

New Yorkers periodically hear about private contractors who are caught ripping off the city, with the CityTime scandal only the highest-profile example in recent years. Clearly, we need better tools to stop fraud and corruption to better protect city taxpayers.

Safeguarding taxpayer money from misuse is one of the reasons the city has whistleblower protections for its public employees. These protections are meant to empower workers to report suspected or known corruption without fear of retaliatory action by their employers.

However, employees of businesses that contract with the city are not afforded any such protections under the law, even though New York City’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget includes more than 17,000 contracts totaling about $10 billion (more than one-seventh of the city’s entire $67 billion budget).

Last week, I introduced legislation that would prohibit companies with city contracts in excess of $50,000 from punishing employees for reporting suspected or known corruption, criminal activity, gross mismanagement, conflicts of interest or abuse of authority.

The CityTime payroll project scandal speaks to why this legislation is needed. Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) defrauded New York City taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars over several years, tens of millions of which will never be recouped. Although SAIC’s settlement with the city included adopting new whistleblower protections (in addition to $500 million in penalties), prudence dictates that those protections are put in place—along with outreach to make employees aware of those protections—before work commences on any new contract.

Congress extended these kinds of protections to employees of federal contractors and, by extension, to federal taxpayers three years ago. City taxpayers deserve the same protection.

Extending whistleblower protections also complements a bill that the New York City Council passed in March 2012, authored by Council Member Letitia James, which requires capital project cost overruns to be reported to the Council on a quarterly basis, along with details of additional project costs. Responsibility for 17,000 contracts means that we need to have the best methods to manage taxpayer dollars and limit cost overruns.

I urge the Bloomberg administration to support the extension of whistleblower protections at the Council’s Governmental Operations Committee hearing on April 16. It’s time to empower employees of companies doing business with New York City with the same whistleblower protections afforded to public employees. They are in the best position to report corruption and should be encouraged to help safeguard our taxpayer dollars without fear of retaliation.

Council Member Daniel R. Garodnick represents New York City’s 4th District and is running for city comptroller.

by Alan Chartock

Why would anyone in their right mind run for political office? The way I figure it, you have got to be nuts to want to be a congressman, state legislator or mayor in this tabloidridden, 24-hour, “gotcha” news environment. Let’s face it: The hypocrisy of the people going after our politicians is extraordinary.

It seems to me that even a saint couldn’t make it. Just ask yourself, “Is there anything I may have done at any point in my life that I wouldn’t want to see blown out of proportion?” Did you smoke pot? Did you have premarital sex with a woman or man who may have turned out to be a bit of a stalker? Did a bunch of frat brothers talk you into visiting a house of ill repute? Did your wife, husband or children ever do something you wouldn’t want to read about in a newspaper? Have you hired someone to clean your house who may not have been a citizen?

In the old days, a Roosevelt or an Eisenhower or a Kennedy could find some solace with a love interest and the word was out: “Stand clear, we don’t get involved in people’s personal lives.” Then everything changed. Make a mistake now and you might as well be sitting on a bundle of dynamite. It’s particularly extraordinary that, even with all of this scrutiny, there are politicians who do things that are so stupid they should have their heads examined. Some of them sell their offices to the highest bidder. Some have work done on their homes by contractors in return for favors from the office holder. Some put no-show people on their payrolls. Some do absolutely nothing wrong but are screwed to the wall by a press that doesn’t mind destroying a good human being.

It is those who actually do break the rules that I hold in contempt. There is a great deal
of power in these offices. One contract can mean millions of dollars to a business supplicant. The politicians who break the rules are masters of rationalization— they believe that they are so important that the money they can bring in is owed to them by a public that should be grateful. They ask how they can be expected to live on the paltry salary that they are paid. They have to raise hundreds of thousands—sometimes millions—of dollars to even run for an office that pays a small fraction of what they have raised. If there are any among us who haven’t read Faust, The Devil and Daniel Webster or Damn Yankees, I suggest you do so to understand how these unfortunate but greedy souls tick. Sooner or later, they have to pay the piper.

We’ve seen all kinds of schemes. Some of these people set up not-for-profit organizations and install their families and friends as officers. Some get jobs for their children and then guarantee them government business. I suspect they do stupid things because they have
always gotten away with them. When they finally get caught for seriously going over the line, they are amazed.

It is illegal to enter into a contract, verbal or written, that says, “If you do this for me, I will deliver because of my government position.” You mean to tell me they don’t know that eventually, someone will throw them under the bus to a district attorney to get off the hook? We all see them hauled away in handcuffs, yet others go ahead and do the same thing, as if they are immune.

It is a pinball game. Sooner or later, you either lose or you bang the machine so hard it goes “tilt.” Like I said, you’d have to be out of your mind to play that game.
Alan S. Chartock is president and
CEO of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio
and an executive publisher at The
Legislative Gazette.