[nfbmi-talk] ot slightly state probe in ny continues

[joe harcz Comcast]

State probe into Association for the Blind: 2 years and counting - Utica, NY - The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York

By DAN MINER

Observer-Dispatch

Posted Oct 12, 2011 @ 08:11 PM

 

Print

Comment

UTICA —

 

It’s been nearly two years since the state Attorney General’s office started its investigation into the Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

 

But despite assurances from an AG spokeswoman that the probe continues, nobody in Utica seems to have heard a thing about it recently.

 

“They asked for some documentation and we sent it when they asked, in November of 2009,” said Rudy D’Amico, the association’s president. “That was it.”

 

The Attorney General’s office started its probe in response to O-D reporting in March 2009 that the association had awarded nearly $3 million in work since

the late 1990s to two private companies with ties to key figures at the agency.

 

Nonprofit experts said at the time that such arrangements raised ethical questions.

 

Has there been any progress? What is taking so long?

 

Nobody knows.

 

“Obviously, we would like some closure, and I’m sure our board members would like some closure,” said D’Amico, who strenuously objected to continued media

coverage because the attorney general has come to no conclusion.

 

“Our official comment is that we have no updates and that we have not heard from the AG for over a year,” he said.

 

Each investigation undertaken by the Attorney General’s office follows a different chronological trajectory, office spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said.

 

“Every investigation is unique,” Givner said. “So I don’t have a timeframe, and I can’t say this is atypical. It’s an ongoing matter within our office.”

 

The lengthy timeframe could be for any number of reasons, said Russ Haven, legislative counsel for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

 

Haven pointed out that the investigation started under one attorney general, now-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and has endured a changeover to the administration of

Eric Schneiderman.

 

“As a general principle, these investigations can be time-consuming because they’re trying to get their ducks in a row,” he said. “Depending on what’s going

on, there may be other things that intersect with it that have to get resolved first.”

 

The nonprofit awarded contracts to firms that were owned by D’Amico, and at one time by Charles A. Gaetano, a longtime agency board member and director

emeritus.

 

D’Amico’s company, Express Systems Integration, handled information technology contracts at a time that he oversaw information technology issues at the

association for the blind.

 

In the wake of the articles, the Attorney General’s office said in June 2009 that it was reviewing a complaint related to affairs at the nonprofit. Five

months later, that review became an investigation.

Copyright 2011 The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York. Some rights reserved

 

http://www.uticaod.com/latestnews/x765172735/State-probe-into-Association-for-the-Blind-2-years-and-counting