Daniel LaBella is eligible to be police chief … of New York Mills.This was blogged about here last June. At the time, it made no sense that the City could choose a chief from either a City test, or a far easier County test, both tests having different prerequisites.
But the Utica police chief is not authorized to hold the far more complex city police department position, the state Civil Service Commission determined Wednesday in tentatively rescinding LaBella’s appointment to the job.
Why? Because the close friend of Mayor David Roefaro took the wrong Civil Service exam last winter, one for village-sized police departments, the commission said.
Where was the Utica Civil Service Commission when this was going on?
Per today's OD:
County Personnel Director John Talerico said the city had sought to see police chief candidates from the county list.Puh-leese . . . The County knew better . . . Anyone with just a passing familiarity with the Civil Service system knows better.
“We’ve done it before for different titles for the city,” Talerico said. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
Quoting myself from last June:
This particular appointment could not have occurred without County collusion.It also involves both levels of government.
There is much more wrong here than meets the eye . . . it goes beyond Utica's borders and involves BOTH political parties.
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5PM Update: State says local groups should have recognized wrong test
Someone from either the city or county civil service commissions should have thrown up a red flag about Daniel LaBella’s June appointment as police chief, according to a state spokesman.Yep . . . That's exactly what I said. Heads at BOTH City and County Civil Service Commissions need to roll. The public is not getting justice from these people.
4 comments:
Of course. The incestuous nature of the political structure here was certainly involved. How else could it possibly have happened? The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight is but part of the answer. Will the whistle blowers now get indicted?
Another interesting question involves the OD. Given the excuse of the doctor's note resulting in a special exam so to speak, wouldn't a good reporter have checked on the exam itself? Did the paper. And, if so why were not questions raised at the outset?
Commissioner John Talerico continues to play politics. He did the same thing with the service status of Carol Fairbrother, Bookkeeper - Town of New Hartford.
It does appear that Commissioner Talerico's appointment should be questionned?
The mass political corruption present in this area is so blatant that it would make the politicians of Chicago seem like ultra virtuous Alter Boys. The corruption seems to be in every nook and cranny of government. It is so blatant that they do not even know what the definition of ethics is.
The corruption in the police departments in the Mohawk Valley is so blatant that the citizens have been resigned to take it for granted. In other areas like Auburn, NY, the public is upset over a scandal of having the Police Chief order his officers to write a quota of at least one traffic ticket per day to raise revenue for the city. (http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/auburn_police_chiefs_wants_off.html)
This type of public corruption is much too minor for this area to even take note. It would fall well under the media’s radar as being too minor to even be newsworthy. Heck, here we have police department officers working overtime, utilizing public equipment and vehicles to illegally double as security officers to protect a private movie theater. The fact of the matter is, that unless a peace officer is specifically licensed as a “Security Officer” by the NYS Department of State, they are breaking the law and working illegally without a license. These very same police officers are also illegally adding to their public retirement system funds by working for a private non-government company. The taxpayers are entitled to be reimbursed for the pension funds these officers will collect while working for this private business while being protected under the public’s insurance policy. But the media seems unconcerned with this seemingly “small potatoes” because there is more obvious breaches of the public’s trust to report on.
So in respect to having the largest city in the Mohawk Valley’s police department illegitimately led by a police chief who got his job by the old “it’s who you know or who you are related to” method rather than by having the proper credentials, seems minor. The disrespect for the law is so blatant by the politicians here in the Mohawk Valley, that they actually believe that when they break the law in full view – and in your face – that it somehow legitimizes their unethical thievery of the taxpayers. And they have the nerve to wonder why the area is hemorrhaging its citizens at an alarming rate. As the cesspool of corruption marches on in the Mohawk Valley.
Greens and Beans, I was going to comment, but you have addressed the issue so succcintly, that there's no need for me to do so.
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