THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2010 VOL. IV NO. XXIX

Westchester’s Most Influential WeeklySPECIAL REPORT

Taxpayers Mad As HellOver Westchester ‘Slush Fund’

Court Report: p3U.S. Attorney Charges Pres.Of Mt. Vernon CompanyIn Our Opinion, p4:The Deeper Meaning OfRobert Castelli’s VictoryOn The National Scene, p10:The New Queen Of Hearts

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This Week...

Tax Activist Tells Guardian :

EXPOSED!

Politicians Are Greatest� reat To America

Advocate, pg 5

From � e PublisherSee page 2

Tax Activist Tells Guardian :Tax Activist Tells Guardian :From � e Publisher

Over Westchester ‘Slush Fund’Over Westchester ‘Slush Fund’

PAGE 5THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2010

Continued on the next page

County Taxpayers Mad As HellOver Westchester ‘Slush Fund’

Perhaps Many Millions Squandered Over � e YearsIt was no coincidence, if

anything, it was remarkable irony, that last Tuesday Rob As-torino was taking a 20-minute ‘walk-through’ of the o� ces of the Westchester County Depart-ment Of Social Services at 112 E. Post Road, White Plains, ac-companied by none other than Deputy Commissioner Diane Atkins as the February 11th edi-tion of � e Westchester Guard-ian was making its way down and around the county bear-ing the headline, “Westchester ‘Slush Fund’, Department of Social Services”. And, it wasn’t as though Mr. Astorino hadn’t been previously alerted to the multi-million-dollar, long-run-ning giveaway operations under the direction of his tour guide, Diane Atkins.

By � ursday, phones were ringing o� the wall at � e Guard-ian from taxpayers who wanted to know more about the scan-dal and what could be done to end the “hemorrhaging” of hard-earned tax dollars to ineligible recipients, principally in Mount Vernon and Yonkers.

We were not invited to come along on the tour. In fact, for weeks before, Commissioner Ma-hon and Deputy Commissioner

Atkins, refused repeated requests by � e Guardian for interviews, despite the fact that we had in-formed them that we wanted to discuss concerns that employ-

ees of the Department, and citi-zen-taxpayers, had brought to our attention, in order to a� ord them the opportunity to express their position. We certainly hope that Atkins took the time to show our new County Executive the recently completed expansion of her already large � � h-� oor o� ce into a virtual “Presidential Suite.” Perhaps he even got a chance to sit on her new couch.

We wonder if Atkins took the time to explain how she has

strategically placed certain in-dividuals in Mount Vernon and Yonkers to do her dirty work, her unlawful distribution to friends, family, and politically connected recipients. Consider Leonard Townes, operating under the bo-gus title “Director Of Temporary Assistance;” at Grade 16, earning about $130,000. Townes, in turn, has placed Yvonne Rhodin as a manager in Mount Vernon, and Annabelle Lewis, as a supervisor. It’s no coincidence, given our in-quiries, that Townes has just been removed to Yonkers and Stacey Reynolds, working under the same bogus, Grade 16 title, Di-rector Of Temporary Assistance, has been sent to White Plains.

However, Reynolds’ move into White Plains will now con-� ict with Jacqueline Greene, who has also been getting $130,000, believe it or not, working from home! We understand that Greene, who has been work-ing the home employment gig for some two years or more, will now actually be compelled to work at 85 Court Street, White Plains. What a shame.

� en, there’s Nancy Holmes, who goes by her maiden name because she is Mrs. Kevin Mahon. Nancy Holmes is pulling down

$100,000+ as Manager #1 at 100 East First Street, Mount Vernon, having been jumped over several other eligible Department Of So-cial Services employees. In West-

chester, if it smells like nepotism, it likely is. A� er all, why should the Mahon household have to settle for a mere Commissioner’s salary of $155,000 a year, when they can have more than a quar-ter million?

For years, Andy Spano kept feeding Westchester’s highest-in-the-Nations’ overtaxed families the story that it was “the Unfund-ed Mandates from the State” that

County Executive Rob Astorino Former County Executive Andrew Spano

PAGE � THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2010

Advocate, continued from the previous page

were pushing their County tax burden up and over the top. What Spano, and now Mr. Astorino, in-tentionally avoided telling us was about the millions and millions of dollars that were being siphoned into the hands of politically con-nected individuals; people who, when found “Ineligible” by an honest Social Services examiner, would whip out their cellphone and call Diane Atkins who, in turn, would order the honest, dil-igent employee to make the un-lawful payment anyway.

The so-called State-imposed Unfunded Mandates adminis-tered through the Department of Social Services include, (1) Emergency Assistance; (2) Child Care; (3) Food Stamps; (4) Fos-ter Care, and, (5) Medicaid, all of which have provided fertile fields of opportunity, and continue to, for the fraudulent passage of tax-payer-generated funds into lar-cenous hands by Diane Atkins & Company.

Emergency Assistance cases include payment of Social Ser-vices funds, taxpayer dollars for such expenses as Con Ed bills to prevent turn-offs, rent arrears to prevent evictions, and moving ex-penses within the State, generally regarded as Open and Close cases. Of course, when Diane Atkins’ niece wanted to move to South Carolina, somehow she became eligible to receive some $4,000 in moving expenses to do so.

Child Care, at more than $1100 per month, per child, is supposed to be justified when the parent, frequently single moms, demonstrate that they require that assistance in order to main-tain and perform employment

that is yielding at least $22,000 but not more than $25,000 per year. It’s a questionable formula-tion at best, one that appears in-tended to enhance so-called Wel-fare To Work programs; but one which demands compliance with regulations, a standard Diane At-kins routinely violates.

Food Stamps are generally provided to families and single individuals whose income falls below, or near, the poverty level. In Westchester, particularly un-der the influence of Diane At-kins, individuals will often apply for food stamps claiming to be earning $100 to perhaps $200 per week. Those same individu-als may then turn around and make application for Child Care Assistance, claiming employment between $22,000 and $25,000 (or $500 per week), trying to “have it both ways,” and often getting away with it.

Medicaid is a vast area of public assistance subject to a multitude of fraudulent schemes, frequently involving caregiv-ers, doctors, dentists, nurses and home health aides, as well as re-tailers such as pharmacies and health equipment providers, and everyone in between. Medicaid Fraud is so rampant that most federal and state prosecutors’ of-fices have a separate Medicaid Fraud unit.

Foster Care generally in-volves home care in a family set-ting provided to individuals from birth to 21 years of age, or to the point of emancipation through employment and relocation. Generally, the opportunities for fraud by those providing foster care in contract with the Depart-

ment of Social Services, involve false claims for services and/or purchases of equipment and sup-plies, all too often facilitated by lax or intentionally ineffective oversight and supervision.

The taxpayers of Westchester have every reason to be mad as Hell with Department of Social Services Commissioner Kevin Mahon, and his Deputy Commis-sioner, Diane Atkins, not to men-tion all of those co-conspirators, both inside of and outside of, the Department who have been en-riching themselves and their rela-tives and friends, literally stealing from our “highest-in-the-Nation” property taxes. We are talking about larceny on a grand scale; not to mention its demoralizing impact on the overwhelming majority of honest, hardworking, well-intentioned Social Services employees who, having deter-mined that individuals are ineli-gible, have been ordered by At-kins to make payments anyway.

It’s no wonder Andy Spano was so desperate to be re-elected. The word is Janet DiFiore pres-sured Rob Astorino not to replace Diane Atkins. If so, DiFiore must be investigated and apprehended by federal prosecutors, together with Andy Spano, Larry Schwartz, Kevin Mahon, Ken Jenkins, Di-ane Atkins and her entire troup of corrupt Social Services officials and recipients. The overwhelming number of honest, hard-working Social Services employees must be vindicated and acknowledged for their dedication and loyalty to their mission and to the People of Westchester.

Perhaps a combined task force from the Offices of State At-

torney General Andrew Cuomo and State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, working in conjunc-tion with the United States At-torney’s Office, can perform the comprehensive audit and assess-ment that will surely be needed to clean up many years of corrup-tion and thievery, and bring to justice all those responsible.

It’s disappointing to consider what we have seen thus far from County Executive Rob Astorino, particularly with respect to this matter. Attempts by The Guard-ian to interview Kevin Mahon and Diane Atkins were each met with stubborn resistance and a phone call from Donna Green of the 9th Floor, insisting that we submit our questions in writ-ing. Each time we reminded Ms. Green that Mahon and Atkins worked for the taxpayers and not the other way around; and, that the Press was entitled to a face-to-face interview when dealing with public officials.

It would appear that Mr. Astorino may not really be in charge. Why else would he have left Kevin Mahon and Joe Stout at the helm in the Departments of Social Services and Parks, respec-tvely. Surely he can’t be that naive with respect to each of those op-erations.

Certainly those who voted for him had a reasonable expectation of change, a belief that the new County Executive would feel a breath of fresh air, and new ideas or initiatives, should be forthcom-ing. That notion was reasonable following a tired 12-year regime. In light of what we are uncover-ing, it’s more than reasonable, it’s compelling.

PAGE �THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2010

There are few knowledge-able observers who would deny that The Westchester Guard-ian played a significant role in bringing down former County Executive Andy Spano. After all, he virtually owned, and certain-ly controlled, both Cablevision News12 and The Journal News; the former operating with an exclusive franchise directly un-der the control of the County Executive, not to mention the $22.5 million, five-year gift con-tract Spano bestowed on Ca-blevision’s Lightpath in March of 2000; the latter the recipient of legal advertising and other assistance from the County, in turn conferring their endorse-ment on Spano time after time.

The Guardian hammered away at Mr. Spano, asking taxpay-ers on our cover, “Why Are We Paying For This Man’s Sin?” refer-ring to the more than $65 million we would be paying back for the $52 million Spano squandered away in Fair Housing grants over a six-year period, all the while deceiving the federal government but enriching developer friends and political contributors, buy-ing properties and turning them over for one dollar. We reminded readers that his actions were caus-ing homeowners and taxpayers to shoulder an undeserved reputa-tion for maintaining exclusionary housing, now loosely described in The New York Times as “hous-ing discrimination”.

In short, we played no small role in opening voters’ eyes to some of the reasons Andy Spano needed to be retired. As it hap-

pens, Republican Rob Astorino had another ally as well in his quest for the County Executive’s Office, the Independence Par-ty. He literally went begging for that cross-endorsement without which he would never have been elected.

We now know, after two and

a half months in office, what Rob Astorino, County Executive, is re-ally all about. For one thing, it is obvious that he’s very much into the preservation of the Insiders’ Club; the army of commissioners, and deputy commissioners, and assistant deputy commissioners, etc., etc., earning $155,000, and $130,000, and $110,000, respec-tively, and so on and so forth, in department after County depart-

ment, particularly the Depart-ment of Social Services.

That department is disburs-ing more than $550 million an-nually, a significant portion of which is flowing into ineligible hands by way of high-level dep-uty commissioners and manag-ers whose unlawful activities had

been covered up for years under the prior administration and Commissioner Kevin Mahon.

They continue to be covered up, vir-tually encouraged by DA Janet DiFiore who, we understand, made it clear to Mr. Astorino that Diane Atkins, First Deputy Commissioner of the Department of So-cial Services, was to be kept in place. She is the one who, time after time, orders examiners and case-workers to pay large sums of money to ineligible applicants, individuals who are politically connected,

or related to Atkins, or in some way intended to be the beneficia-ry of fraudulent handling of our tax dollars.

Rob Astorino is well aware of the corruption, the massive fraud in the Department of Social Ser-vices under Commissioner Ma-hon, his First Deputy, Atkins, and her cronies. He is well aware that numerous, mid-level workers in the Department, conscientious

public servants, are sickened by what has been going on so very long, and want those responsible apprehended. Yet, he has inten-tionally turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to reports exposing the millions upon millions of dollars that continue to flow into wrong-ful hands.

Armed with enough informa-tion to open an investigation into the unlawful activites, and to re-move the larcenous perpetrators, thus turning off the spigot and saving taxpayers untold millions, Mr. Astorino prefers, instead, to leave the schemers and their op-eration, in place while telling County workers and taxpayers that he will save them $5.8 mil-lion “in part by better case man-agement of the foster care system.” Meantime, the Department is giving away huge sums of money to ineligible recipients for Emer-gency Assistance, Child Care, Food Stamps, and Medicaid.

This was the man who would have had us believe that he was reaching across party lines, seek-ing a coalition of help with his new administration. That notion was a crock, a cover story for the fact that was under orders to leave the players in place; and, for the most part, that’s what he’s done.

Now, when he rattles the rafters with talk about laying off 1600 County workers to make up for a $166 million anticipated deficit, you know there isn’t one Insider in the lot of them.

After 12 years in the County Executive’s Office, under the in-fluence of Larry Schwartz, Andy Spano was the Devil we knew. n

The Devil We Didn’t Know

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino