ALBANY — The Cuomo administration is putting a hold on new state contracts involving the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, whose CEO was recently fired and charged with stealing funds, the Daily News has learned.
Six contracts with Met Council totaling $11.3 million that are up for renewal will be set aside pending the investigation by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Cuomo aide said. Existing contracts will be paid out on a month-to-month basis until the probe is complete, the aide said.
The Cuomo administration is also planning a “top-to-bottom” review of the nonprofit’s finances to make sure former chief executive William Rapfogel did not receive any payouts or deferred compensation after he was fired and charged with helping steal $5 million from the agency in a kickback scheme.
Met Council, one of the city’s largest social service providers, will be required to file a new “prequalification application” with the state that looks at nepotism and other potential ethical issues, the aide said. An outside consultant will conduct a management study of the group, with Met Council expected to pick up the tab.
“We want to find out if this is a one-off or if it is a systemic problem,” the Cuomo aide said.
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Government reformers have a message for Cuomo — keep your hands off the supposedly independent commission looking into government corruption.
In a letter sent Friday to Cuomo and Schneiderman, who deputized the 25 commission members, Common Cause/New York expressed alarm over reported “interference and micromanagement” by Cuomo’s office.
The letter comes after the Daily News revealed last week that Cuomo has sought greater control over the body he created, with sources saying the administration ordered that several subpoenas be killed, including one to the Cuomo-friendly Real Estate Board of New York.
The News also reported the commission squashed a subpoena that was ready to be served on the state Democratic Party that Cuomo controls.
“We have read the press reports of direct interference with the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption’s investigations and subpoenas with alarm,” Common Cause Executive Director Susan Lerner wrote in her letter.
Lerner noted that Cuomo and Schneiderman promised the commission would be independent and allowed to “follow the money, wherever the trail led, even if it meant investigating either of your campaigns.”
“It is therefore disheartening and a matter of great concern to us to read reports that the commission has been discouraged by the governor from issuing all of the subpoenas which it believes are necessary to properly fulfill its mandate,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, reform activist Bill Samuels, who last week filed a request seeking all written communication between the commission and elected officials and their staffs, said the interference from the governor’s office “undermines” the credibility of the commission that once held such promise. “It smells,” he said.
Representatives of Cuomo and Schneiderman had no comment.
