A Trojan Horse: Queens Library Reform Bill

NYS Senator Ushers Bill Through Assembly Calling For Czar-Like Control Of Queens Library Trustees

In Whose Best Interest Is This ... Really?

June 12, 2014 / Queens Education / Op Ed Queens / News Analysis & Opinion / Queens Buzz.

This report goes behind the fanfare and political posturing that have gone on the past few months, and looks at the issues surrounding legislation that is currently working its way through the New York legislature. It also compares the legislation to a similar prior bill which was passed into law less than a year ago. And ultimately we provide rationale for intelligently asking whether this legislation is a political play or good for the Queens Library and its constituents. The report contains links to our Queens Opinion section which contains the comments of two informed sources who have been following the controversy from different vantage points.

Click here to read our report on the Queens Library Reform Bill by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz.

A Trojan Horse: Queens Library Reform Bill

Politics For Control One Of Nation's Top Libraries - What's Really Going On?

CONTINUED. June 12, 2014 / Jamaica NY / Queens Education / News Analysis & Opinion / Queens Buzz. Continued.

I've been tracking the Queens Library conflict since it began in January of 2014.

Queens Library Conflict Brief Summary Of Events: January - March 2014

The story broke in late January in the NY Daily News detailing the Queens Library President's wages [$392,000], the model of his company car which cost [$37,000], that he had spent over $100,000 remodeling his office [it had been over 30 years since its last update], and that he had a second consulting gig from which the take home pay was in the neighborhood of $190,000 in 2013.

It's worth noting that the Queens Library System has an operating budget in excess of $100 million per annum, between 1,000 - 2,000 employees, and the Queens Library President's compensation is in line with the pay of his non-profit, non-governmental peers. It's also worth mentioning that the Queens Library is recognized by its peers to be one of the best libraries in the city and nation. The Queens Library CEO's compensation appears to be reflective of the adage, that if you want an organization to perform well, you have to pay competitive wages to attract talented management.

In the photo at right is an after school educational program I attended at the Queens Library in Sunnyside.

Queens Library President's Second Job - Impetus For Controversy

One of the main issues seemed to be related to the Queens Library President's second gig. The Business Manager of the second organization, Frank Marino of the Elmont Union Free School District, is also head of a firm that has won 15 contracts worth about $40 million in Queens Library remodeling contracts since 2008. This is out of a total of 38 contracts available. It's worth noting that in 2010 one of the remodeling bidders went bankrupt. Both the FBI and the DOI [NYC Department of Investigations] have been looking into the matter since February / March 2014. Both Galante and Marino say there hasn't been any wrongdoing and that Marino's firm, Advanced Consulting Corporation, has won the bids because they've been the most competitive bidder.

Unions Upset Over Queens Library Use Of Non-Union Labor

The Epoch Times reported that the Queens Library has suffered about $17 million in NYC budget cutbacks since 2008. To maintain library services, the Queens Library contracted some non-union labor for cleaning services to save a half million per year [why pay $15 per hour when you can pay $35 per hour?]. The Epoch Times proffered the notion that the Queens government officials most on the attack are union-supported, and hence they are using this as an opportunity to replace Galante. That's one theory.

Queens Library Enacts Governance Reforms - April 2014

The Queens Library enacted governance reforms in April 2014. But this didn't stop the move by Queens Government officials from pushing forward legislation at the state level to amend the charter of the Queens Library calling for similar reforms, but going one step further.

Queens Government Officials Initiate Charter Revision Legislation

The Queens Borough President in tandem with seven NYS Senators submitted legislation at the state level calling for charter reforms to the Queens Library. Generally the reforms have already been legislated in the Non-Profit Revitalization Act of 2013 and / or in the Queens Library governance reforms - with one important exception. The power to sack Trustees without any real due process. By real due process, I mean a process that includes checks and balances in the process, which is only possible by the inclusion of multiple independent decision-makers.

The issue with this change is that it's somewhere between possible to likely that the Queens Library system will lose its independence as an organization, and become a part of the political machine. And given it's a top performing library system, it's also likely that it's performance will not improve. The legislation appears to be a trojan horse in the sense that it appears beneficial, while in fact, it is not.

Click link in above dateline to view the Queens Opinion section for what professional librarians from around the nation and around NYC think about this proposed legislation.

In Queens & New York State Are You Innocent Until Proven Guilty?

We had questioned one of the bill sponsors as to why he had focused the legislation so narrowly on the Queens Library. In general the response was someting about reining in excess spending by the Queens Library President [see statement further down]. Yet the Queens Library operates within its budget and to date no wrong doing has been found / announced by no less than the FBI and the NYC Department of Investigations. The investigation has not been completed, so I began pondering, "is one is still innocent until proven guilty in Queens?".

NYS Non-Profit Revitalization Act - July 2013

In July of 2013 the New York legislature passed a law providing governance guidance for New York State non-profits. The intent of the law is to provide greater transparency so that New York taxpayers can see how the taxpayer money government officials give to specific entities is spent. In a nutshell it calls for a set of best practices to provide uniform, and in some cases, more transparency than in the past. See image below with a summary of the law.

Redundancy To The Non Profit Revitalization Act Of 2013

The new bill introduced to govern the Queens Library seemed to have a lot of redundancies with the Non-Profit Revitalization Act . And, as I understand things, the Queens Library has implemented the reforms called for by the Non-Profit Revitalization Act.

This is a summary of the Non-Profit Revitalization Act of 2013 which contains a number of provisions similar in kind to the charter revision of the Queens Library.

Is Narrowly Focused Legislation An Uneven Application Of The Law?

Given the Non-Profit Revitalization Act covered non-profit governance, I inquired about the possibility that this legislation appears to be an uneven application of the law, which is against the law. There are numerous non-profits that the city and state fund, which Queens government officials have not included in the bill. What was the point of the Non-Profit Revitalization Act of 2013? Are they going to revise all of the other non-profit charters one by one? If not, couldn't one challenge the legislation as an uneven application of the law?

I was given this official response by the office of the sponsoring Senator.

"Like many Queens residents, I was deeply disturbed by recent revelations detailing the excesses at the Queens Borough Public Library. The Queens Library is a gem in our borough and the misuse of taxpayer dollars at this institution is simply unacceptable. With this legislation I believe the library will become more efficient, more transparent, and more accountable and I am confident it will withstand any legal or constitutional scrutiny."

NYS Senator Submits Reform Bill Calling For Czar-like Control Of Queens Library Trustees

We reviewed some of the proposed changes included in the Senator's bill. They shorten the terms of the Trustees, which one could argue either way - shorter means that by the time you're up to speed on things you're out; and longer means that you could become an entrenched interest. Click to view the Queens Opinion section for what professional librarians from around the nation and around NYC think of the proposed legislation. But the biggest change was the expansion of Executive privilege and power.

The proposed legislation provides the Queens Borough President and the NYC Mayor, who have alternating power to appoint Queens Library Board trustees, with the power to dismiss their own appointees without any checks or balances in the process. To be sure, the dismissed trustee can appeal to the government official who is sacking them, but nobody else gets to weigh in - not even the alternate party [the non-appointing QBP or Mayor]. This appears to essentially reduce the newly appointed trustees to mere puppets that can be removed within a very short period of time, anytime they step out of line.

Library Associations Around The Nation Disagree With The Proposed Changes

Presidents from the American Library Association, the Public Library Association & the United For Libraries think that the negative implications of this legislation reach well beyond Queens and New York State, as you can read in a public letter they sent to the legislators and which is included in the Queens Buzz Opinions section. Essentially they argue that it politicizes the library system and saps it of its independence.

This Bill could well turn the Queens Library into an extension of the political machine

Read the exact language in the bill for yourself and please tell me if the above headline is wrong. Here it is.

Please note that the numbers are the lines of the bill.

Page 3.

The trustees shall hereafter be chosen and vacancies
14 occurring in such office filled by an appointment, which Shall alternate
15 between the mayor of the city of New York and the president of the
16 Borough of Queens; provided, however, that any trustee appointed to a
17 new term or filling a vacancy on or after June 1, 2014 must be either a
18 resident of Queens or own or operate a business in Queens; and provided
19 further that the appointing party shall notify the other appointing
20 party of who was appointed.

The appointing party shall be authorized to
21 remove a trustee whom such party appointed for misconduct, incapacity,
22 neglect of duty, or where it appears to the satisfaction of the appoint-

Page 4.

1 ing party that the trustee has failed or refuses to carry into effect
2 its educational purpose. The appointing party shall not be required to
3 obtain a recommendation from the board to remove a trustee which such
4 party appointed. A trustee subject to removal shall have an opportunity
5 to submit a response or appeal within seven business days to any cause
6 for removal to the appointing party and the appointing party shall
7 review the reason for removal and any response submitted to the party
8 prior to the removal of such person.

When the board recommends removal,
9 the trustee subject to removal may appeal to both appointing parties and
10 either appointing party may remove the trustee where sufficient cause is
11 found. When one of the appointing parties recommends removal of a trustee,
12 such appointing party must provide the subject trustee with notice
13 and an opportunity to appeal, provided, however, that the trustee
14 subject to removal by an appointing body may submit a written appeal to
15 both appointing parties for review and both parties must agree on
16 removal for such removal to be effective.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free . . . it expects what never was and never will be"

This is a line written by Thomas Jefferson.

Are our electeds doing the right thing by allowing the power of a top performing independent library system to be aggregated into the offices of the Queens Borough President & the Mayor through the revision of its charter?

Do we think that Queens award winning libraries will be better off because of these changes? It's our Queens Library, and we encourage you to contact the elected officials involved in this drama, if you think they've chosen the wrong course of action.

Summary: Playing Politics With Queens Library

They're passing legislation before the FBI and the Department of Investigations have completed their review of the matter. And they're proposing to make changes to one of NYC's and the nation's top performing libraries.

With the exception of granting government officials in the executive branches Czar-like control over trustees, they are passing a law that appears redundant to an existing law that governs all non-profits - the Non-Profit Revitalization Act of 2013. Attorney General Schneiderman spent two years crafting this bill.

This legislation appears to be an uneven application of the law, given that a number of other entities would fall into the same or similar classification as the Queens Library including: the local Economic Development Corps, the Business Improvement Districts, and numerous non-profit orgs ranging from the arts, to cultural, to environmental and even educational orgs - like the charter schools. If this is good legislation for one of the non-profit organizations [the Queens Library], then shouldn't it be good legislation for all of them?

"Bad Laws Are A Menace To The State"

The above is an edited quote from one of the sculptures on one of the buildings of the Supreme Court Appellate Division in Manhattan [scroll up to see sculpture photo for unedited inscription].

We don't think this legislation is good for any of the non-profits. And we don't think it's good for the Queens Library either. Let the investigating bodies [FBI & DOI] complete their work, monitor the implementation of the Non-Profit Revitalization Act in the Queens Library and let events take their course, as this situation seems already well in hand by Federal, State and NYC officials. This legislation looks like someone(s) is playing politics with one of the nation's top performing libraries.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

This line is attributed to historian / writer John Dalberg-Acton in the 19th century.

Library professionals around the nation and in the city appear to disagree with what our representatives in the NY State Assembly and NY State Senate are legislating with regard to the Queens Library. In the Queens Buzz Opinion section we printed an open letter sent to the NY State Legislature about this matter.

It's Your Queens Library - Make Your Voice Heard

This is the phone number and email address of the NY State Senator who is sponsoring the bill. I'm sure Senator Michael Gianaris would be happy to hear from you and you can call him at 718-728-0960 or email him at gianaris @ nysenate.gov . Ask him to let the FBI & DOI do their jobs, to monitor the implementation of the Non-Profit Revitalization Act of 2013, and to stop over-legislating the governance of one of the nation's top performing library systems.

And if you got this far, thanks for participating in the democratic process. An informed and active electorate is critical to the proper functioning of a democratic society. To requote Jefferson - "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free . . . it expects what never was and never will be".

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Landmark Case: Battle For Queens Library Stewardship

Six Sacked Queens Library Trustees’ File Lawsuit Alleging Queens Borough President Violated Constitutional Rights & That NYS Law Changing Queens Library Charter Is Invalid

Temporary Restraining Order Fails But Lawsuit Goes On

August 5, 2014 / Queens Politics / Queens Issues / News Analysis & Opinion. Queens Buzz.

On August 1st, the six Queens Library Trustees who were sacked by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz on July 23rd, filed a lawsuit against her in both her official capacity as well as that as an individual. Eric Schneiderman, the NYS Attorney General [in his official role], and NY State were also named in the lawsuit.

Sacked Queens Library Trustees File Lawsuit

The six trustees and plaintiffs are Jacqueline Arrington, Joseph Ficalora, William Jefferson, Grace Lawrence, Terri Mangino and George Stamatiades. Two others were sacked by Mayor Bill de Blasio - Patricia Flynn and Stephen Van Anden - and they are not participating in the suit. There are a total of 19 Queens Library Trustees.

Click here to read the rest of the story about sacked Queens Library Trustees filing lawsuit.

Landmark Case: Battle For Queens Library Stewardship

Six Sacked Queens Library Trustees’ File Lawsuit Alleging Queens Borough President Violated Constitutional Rights & That NYS Law Changing Queens Library Charter Is Invalid

Temporary Restraining Order Fails But Lawsuit Goes On

August 5, 2014 / Queens Politics / Queens Issues / News & Analysis. Queens Buzz. Continued.

There are four sections to this report:

1. Queens Library Trustees Lawsuit Complaint

2. Queens Borough President's Office Defense

3. Queens Library Legal Documents & Timeline

4. Queens Library Controversy Issues: Legal & National Implications

I. Queens Library Trustees Lawsuit Complaint

The plaintiffs' lawsuit is being handled by Schlam, Stone & Dolan LLP. The lawsuit makes five claims and starts with a brief summary of what it described as

“This action seeks to halt a brazen, and unconstitutional, power grab by the Queens Borough President … to transform the Queens Borough Public Library (the “Library” or the “Corporation”) from an independent, private, nonprofit corporation into an organ of City Government controlled by the Queens Borough President and Mayor.”

The first claim in the lawsuit is against Attorney General Schneiderman and the State of NY, the second claim is against Schneiderman, NYS, and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. Both of these claims name the defendants in their governance roles. The third and fourth claims are against Katz as an individual, and the fifth claim is against Katz in her official capacity.

Lawsuit Claims NYS Law Unconstitutional & Alleges Infraction Of Rights & Harm

1) The first claim states that the NYS Legislation is in violation of the charter agreement established among and between the city, state and Queens Library Corporation when it was founded with respect to the: 1) 1901 Agreement with Andrew Carnegie, and 2) the subsequent Agreement between Andrew Carnegie's successor the Queens Borough Public Library and NYC, and 3) the NYS Act of creating Queens Borough Public Library - the latter two both completed in 1907.

Under Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution says that States may not make laws impairing the obligation of contracts. This means that the law cannot retroactively impair contract rights, or put another way, the law can’t take away rights one held or exercised prior to the passage of a state law. For the plaintiffs, the rights in question are the rights they exercise as Queens Library Trustees as set forth in the Queens Borough Public Library documents of 1907. And the independence of the Queens Borough Public Library Corporation as outlined in the Agreement between Andrew Carnegie and NYC in 1907.

2) The second claim is a request for a permanent injunction that would stop the Borough President from going through with sacking the six Trustees - stating that per #1 above, the NYS law is unconstitutional, and acting upon it would cause irreparable harm to the six sacked Trustees.

3) The third claim is that Queens Borough President Katz’s actions directly and proximately have caused the Trustees severe harm.

4) The fourth claim is that Katz violated the Trustees’ rights under the First Amendment Right to Free Speech. The complaint alleges that in July 23rd letters sent to the plaintiffs, Katz referenced the Trustees’ votes on April 3rd and May 8th of 2014. Thus, the complaint claims that this action by the Queens Borough President was retaliation against the Trustees for their votes / speaking out on matters of public concern.

It's worth noting that retaliation against public employees speaking out on matters of public concern is a First Amendment violation. But technically the Queens Library has operated independently of the government and the trustees are not public employees. But that said, the recent NYS legislation changing the corporation’s governance, may allow the plaintiffs to argue that it is no longer an independent organization [but now a captive organization of the government] because the Mayor and the Queens Borough President can now remove the Trustees without recourse on a week of notice, thus enabling them to control exact outcomes by trustee votes. And the Trustees are ultimately responsible for the overseeing the Queens Library System operations.

5) The fifth claim. Since the votes referenced in their dismissal were cast prior to the enactment of the NYS legislation on June 26th, the sacking of the Queens Library Trustees constitutes an illegal action, as the votes were placed prior to the law going into effect.

This references back to the constitutional law cited above under Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, wherein the government is not allowed to retroactively impair contract rights.

 

II. Queens Borough President's Office Defense

Queens Borough President Responds To Lawsuit Citing Governance Issues

The Queens Borough President’s Office responded by filing a Declaration of Opposition to the TRO [Temporary Restraining Order] which included a brief summary of how the conflict started [news report about construction of an outdoor deck to accommodate Queens Library CEO’s smoking] and cited the justification for the sackings as an effort to rein in profligate spending of a largely publicly funded organization [Queens Library is approximately 85% funded by NYC government].

In the letters sent to the sacked trustees on July 23rd, 2014; the Queens Borough President explained to Queens Borough Library Trustees the rationale for her actions:

"1. It appears to my satisfaction that you have failed to carry into effect the educational purpose of the QBPL by failing to adequately protect and preserve the physical property and resources of QBPL, failing to appropriately oversee the management of the QBPL and authorizing the expenditure of library funds for purposes that do not further its educational purpose.

2. ... and to adequately protect and preserve the physical property and resources of QBPL by voting to withhold financial and funding information from the NYC Comptroller and allowing for the expenditure of QBPL funds to litigate against the Comptroller's rightful authority to fully audit QBPL funding streams."

It's worth mentioning that in the past the NYC Comptroller and the Queens Library have clashed and subsequently negotiated a settlement as to exactly how much access to financial records the NYC government is entitled. One such conflict was in 1997 with NYC Comptroller Hevesi. I was informed by the Queens Library that the NYC Comptroller has had auditors at the Queens Library since February 2014 and that they have been given access to the financial records as stipulated in the court-ordered settlement of 1997. And both the FBI and NYC DOI [Department of Investigations] have been investigating the Queens Library since February too.

Queens Borough President Defense To Claims Made Against Her

Essentially the lawsuit relies upon two important foundations of the American legal system: 1) the contract clause of the Constitution and 2) the First Amendment Right to free speech. In laying the framework for the Queens Borough President’s defense, the Queens Borough Presidents Office attorney, Thomas B. Roberts, researched a number of court rulings related to the legal precedents outlined in the lawsuit.

The Contract Clause & Justice Story’s Concurring Opinion In The Dartmouth College Case

The Contract Clause of Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution was identified in the plaintiff’s claims above as the rationale for declaring the Queens Library Reform Bill invalid. It says the states cannot take away rights exercised prior to the passage of the bill.

The Queens Borough President’s Office [QBPO] cites the concurring opinion of Justice Story written in 1819 with regard to the Trustees of Dartmouth College vs Woodward case. In that case Daniel Webster successfully argued that the state of New Hampshire could not transform the privately chartered Dartmouth College into a public organization and thus reinstate its former president, Woodward; who the trustees had ousted. The rationale was that the original charter was a private contract protected by the Contract Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Justice Marshall wrote the opinion, and according to the QBPO brief, Marshall cited that Dartmouth was an entirely private corporation, receiving no funds from the state and not designed to further the state of New Hampshire’s public interest.

Justice Story’s concurring opinion modified the sweep of Chief Justice Marshall’s Opinion, by stating that States could insert reservation clauses in corporate charters to enable legislatures to alter or amend charters.

The Queens Borough President’s Office brief differentiates the QBPL from Dartmouth, stating that it was designed to further the public interest of NYC and has received funding from NYC for the past century. They describe the new legislation as incremental charter change, increasing the power of the Mayor / Borough President – not as a complete takeover of the private entity. This is likely to be debated as this legislation effectively transfers to the public officials complete control over, not just the trustees, but by means of being able to replace them on short notice, controlling their every vote and thus complete control over the organization.

The QBPO also cites Article VIII, Section 1 of the New York State Constitution change of 1894 [re-numbered Article X, Section 1].

“Corporations may be formed under general laws; but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the legislature, the objects of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws. All general laws and special acts passed pursuant to this section may be altered from time to time or repealed.”

This allows the state to make changes to laws and acts. As will be mentioned in the timeline below, the QBPL was formed by Act in 1907.

Queens Library Lawsuit: QBPO Response Regarding Violation Of First Amendment Rights

Regarding the First Amendment related claims of the lawsuit, the QBPO responded with a statement of which I believe the following represents the gist of it:

… “Plaintiffs make the extraordinary claim that the First Amendment prevents the Borough President from removing trustees who have voted in a manner that (i) permits the waste of public funds, (ii) breaches a duty to further the educational policies mismanagement of the QBPL by the Comptroller, and (iii) obstructs an appropriate investigation into the into the mismanagement of the QBPL by the Comptroller, and (iv) damages the reputation of the Library.” …

It’s worth noting that the first, second and fourth statements are - as of this writing - unproven allegations [and ultimately in some measure subjective]. The third point however, that of obstructing access [via litigation] to the company's financial records by the NYC Comptroller is a fact.

In the Queens Borough Public Library Agreement of 1907, the NYC Comptroller is given specifc rights to request and receive documentation for somewhat specified expenses and receipts. It's worth mentioning that the financial statements of the Queens Borough Public Library are prepared and audited by Certified Public Accounting firm of Israeloff, Trattner and Company from Garden City, NY. We aren't versed on the details of this separate legal dispute, but on the surface, it appears it's well within the rights of the NYC Comptroller to seek and obtain access to some level of the QBPL financial records based on the originating contract and given NYC funds 85% of its operations.

And in some measure, access to this information is why this conflict began - but unfortunately it's not where it ends. It's worth noting, that in 2013 the NYS Comptroller sought access to the Success Academy Charter School's records and was successfully rebuffed even though NYC & NYS funds a significant portion of Success Academy's operations. And it's worth noting that there have been prior disputes between NYC and the Queens Borough Public Library over how much access to its financials NYC is entitled. Go to the Queens Buzz Opinion section to read about how Success Academy Charter Schools rebuffs NYS Comptroller.

The QBPO brief also states that the Act of Incorporation provides power to the Mayor & QBP to replace appointed trustees. The way this is presented in the Brief, seems to imply that replacing includes sacking, but in all of the original documentation I read, the Mayor & Borough President are allowed to appoint replacements, but the remainder of QBPL governance including removals was to be managed by the trustees. It's worth noting again that the trustees include the Mayor, Queens Borough President, NYC Comptroller & NYC Public Advocates who are ex officio of the 19 trustees.

The QBPO cited two precedent cases: 1) Miller vs Town of Hull in 1989 and 2) Garcetti vs Cebalos 2006.

In the first case, Miller vs Town of Hull, elected officials can be removed for:

"… inefftciency, neglect of duty or misconduct …"

but may not be removed

“… on the basis of defendants' agreement or disagreement with plaintiffs' position and views on matters of town policy."

The QBP's legal counsel summarized the relevance of this case by stating that,

“… the plaintiffs have been removed due to disagreements over the proper intemal management of the QBPL - not over a matter that is integral to the core educational mission of the Library (such as the selection of books or the content of Library programs).”

The second case, Garcetti vs Cebalos, is about the right to sack the trustees, referencing their First Amendment Right of Free Speech. The following quotes summarize the gist of why this case is referenced.

“… a public employee has no First Amendment retaliation claim for speech within his or her official duties …”

“To determine whether or not a plaintiff s speech is protected, a court must begin by asking whether the employee spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern. If the court determines that the plaintiff either did not speak as a citizen or did not speak on a matter of public concern, the employee has no First Amendment cause of action based on his or her employer's reaction to the speech."

I'm pretty sure that the Trustees of the Queens Borough Public Library are not employees of the city, unless of course you believe that the Queens Borough Public Library Corporation was just defacto taken over by the NYC government via the Queens Library Reform Act signed into law on June 26th, 2014. If the Queens Library trustees are considered to be working for an independent entity, then they likely fall under the category of citizen as my understanding is that they are not employees and not compensated. Also it appears this whole conflict is about BOTH matters of public concern and about the dispatch of the trustees' official duties.

Thus you can see that this is going to be an interesting and POSSIBLY LANDMARK CASE as the issues are significant with sweeping national implications and the legal grey areas are many. The case already references century old historical documents [QBPL charter & Andrew Carnegie contract with NYC] and legal precedents dating back two centuries ago. And there's a tie into no less than one of the nation's foremost litigators: Daniel Webster. This is going to force the legal combatants to dust off their law books and dig in for what could be a landmark case which, depending on the combatants motivations to win or compromise, could make a journey all the way up to the Supreme Court.

 

III. Queens Library Lawsuit: Legal Documents & Timeline

Queens Borough Public Library Lawsuit: Queens Library Governance History

In 1901 the city entered into an agreement with agents of Andrew Carnegie to create a free public library system in Queens. In 1907 two events occurred: 1) an Agreement between Andrew Carnegie representatives & and what would be their successor [the Queens Borough Public Library] and the City of New York and 2) the New York Legislature adopted an Act of Incorporation establishing the Queens Borough Public Library. The act laid the groundwork for NYC Comptroller's financial record access and the creation Board of Trustees, which was to include, ex officio, the Mayor, the NYC Comptroller and what is today the Speaker of the City Council along with 15 other trustees who were to name their own successors subject to approval of the Mayor. And this body was to self-organize by the adoption of by-laws and the election of officers. In 1913 the legislature amended the Act of Incorporation to limit trustees to five-year terms and transferred the power to select trustees to the Mayor. Andrew Carnegie died in 1919.

Post Carnegie’s death, in 1992, the power to appoint trustees was to be shared by the Mayor and the Queens Borough President. In 2002 the Public Advocate was added as an ex officio trustee, bringing the total trustees to four ex officio trustees [the Mayor, Queens Borough President, NYC Comptroller & NYC Public Advocate] and 15 from the private sector. They serve five year terms and may do so successively. Currently NYC provides approximately 85% of the Queens Borough Public Library [QBPL] funds, which in 2014 is expected to be about $123 million.

So, from 1901 / 1907 up until this past month, the governance of the Queens Borough Public Library, including trustee dismissal, was handled by the Queens Borough Public Library Trustees. All new trustees were subject to appointment approval by the Mayor – who subsequently shared appointment approvals with the Queens Borough President. Thus the Queens Borough Public Library has, to date, operated as an independent non-profit in accordance with the governance outlined in contracts and legislation approved prior to Andrew Carnegies’ death. And Carnegie named the Queens Borough Public Library as successor to his rights when the 1907 Act of Incorporation was instituted. A court case was cited in the plaintiff’s brief referencing a court case supporting the library’s independence, leaving trustee removal to the governance by the trustees.

Fast forward to 2014 when a story breaks about a deck being built to accommodate the smoking habit of the Queens Borough Public Library CEO. The report included news of the Queens Borough Public Library President’s salary, which while comparable to other CEO’s operating non-profits of a similar size and nature, is far greater than the Mayor’s and the Queens Borough President’s. The reporting news organization included the CEO's severance package approved in 2012, which included five years pay, that he had income from a second job and a nice car. The FBI and NYC Department of Investigations began investigating and to date no wrongdoing has been found / annouced. Click here to read a prior Queens Buzz report detailing these items of the Queens Library Corruption Scandal.

It’s worth adding that the Queens Borough Public Library is currently considered to be one of the finest libraries in the nation, as rated by its peers in the industry, awards it has received and metrics measuring its success as denoted by its performance statistics such as the circulation of books [QBPL book circulation is one of the highest in the world]. Many attribute this success to the leadership of the Queens Borough Public Library CEO. This information is also contained in our prior report on the Queens Library Corruption Scandal.

To put public servants’ compensation in perspective vis a vis what is paid by private industry, we find it necessary to inform you that almost every publicly elected officer in this country is vastly under compensated vis a vis any privately employed person responsible for comparable budgets. The President of the United States of America makes $400,000 per year and is responsible for nearly a $3 trillion budget. The Mayor of NYC makes $225,000 per year and is responsible for a $73 billion budget. The Queens Borough President makes $160,000 per year and handles a $40 million budget. All of these government officials play an important role in managing these public budgets and have other responsibilities to the public that extend well beyond the budgetary role.

Let’s look at a few private industry compensation packages in 2013. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google EACH made $9.3 billion in 2013 co-managing a budget of $16 billion. Mark Zuckenberg of Facebook made $10.5 billion managing a budget of $7.8 billion. And IBM’s CEO Ginni Rometty made $16 million managing a $100 billion budget. Robert McDonald CEO of Proctor & Gamble made $16 million managing a budget of $84 billion. Naturally non-profit CEO's make far less [no stock / options], but a third party investigated the Queens Library CEO's compensation relative to others managing comparable or comparably-sized non-profit entities and found the Queens Borough Public Library CEO's compensation to be relatively comparable. So you can make your own judgments about compensation fairness, with a bit of understanding how fair compensation is generally in this country, where the public servant’s compensation packages differ greatly vis a vis private industry entrepreneurs and both for profit and non-profit CEOs.

The rest of the timeline gets into the nitty gritty back and forth between the new Queens Borough President and the Queens Borough Public Library Trustees this year. Queens Borough President Katz, as one of the primary stewards of the NYC public funds [which represent the vast majority of the Queens Library funding] wanted the trustees to give her or the NYC Comptroller access to financial information. The trustees decided not to comply. She wanted the CEO put on hiatus and they decided not to comply.

So ultimately Katz did an end run around them, working with a couple of Queens-based NYS officials [Senator Michael Gianaris (D Astoria) and Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry (D Corona)], to draft a bill to give her and the Mayor what appears to be complete control over the Queens Borough Public Library Board of Trustees and hence the Queens Borough Public Library itself. The Mayor and Queens Borough President are now able to fire trustees at will, and dismissed trustees are not provided with any real access to due process or redress, and they may be removed within a week. Prior to the enactment of this law, only the Board of Trustees could dismiss a trustee and they were given five year terms.

Thus this new law essentially gutted the Queens Borough Public Library of any independence from the city that it once had. And Mayor de Blasio and Queens Borough President Katz wasted no time in exercising their new found powers by removing two [respectively] and six [plaintiffs] trustees citing their efforts to block financial record access to NYC Comptroller Stringer.

And this is how we all arrived here. In this place. At this time. Confronting a number of important and in some senses conflicting issues. I can only hope that the lawsuit goes before a wise judge who will invest the time to render a verdict that is in the public’s favor.

 

IV. LANDMARK CASE: Queens Library Controversy Issues: Legal & Societal Implications

Queens Borough Public Library - Queens Library Trustees Lawsuit Issues

What I outline here are the issues of this case which are intertwined and contradictory and that need to be untangled and adjudicated properly as they have long term repercussions as precedents for how we are to operate as a society - not just here in Queens - but nationwide. I do not address what I consider to be the short term and personal outcomes of the lawsuit like the alleged harm to the Trustees or the alleged lack of financial oversight on the part of the trustees, because these outcomes are short-lived and are less likely to have long term repercussions to us as a society.

• Issue - Ensuring Public Funds Are Spent Wisely
  • The Queens Borough President and NYC Comptroller have repeatedly tried to obtain information about how the public’s funds are being spent, and have not been able to obtain the information required to allay their concerns of possible financial mismanagement. They have rights to some of the information as outlined in the organizing documents and subsequent amended agreements and I do not know if the NYC Comptroller's lawsuit is about the exercise of those rights, or the expansion of them. It's worth noting again, that in 2013, Success Academy Charter Schools, which also receives a significant amount of its funding from the government, was able to defeat a lawsuit by the NYS Comptroller to gain access to their financial records. So there are precedents for pushback - and I don't know how either of these pushbacks have been justified - but I think they should be linked. If you can audit the Queens Library non-profit, then you should be able to audit Success Academy Charter Schools non-profit. On the surface it would seem to allow the auditing of one of these organizations and not the other would be an uneven application of the law.
  • The important point here is that the NYC Comptroller's public audit function must be given teeth because over $100 million of public funds each year are at stake. The right to access to financial information was set forth in the 1907 Agreement between NYC and the QBPL and stipulates that the NYC Comptroller be given access to some specified level of the corporation’s records. That right was further specified in a 1997 Court ordered settelement between the Queens Library and NYC Comptroller Hevesi.
  • It’s worth noting that as of this writing no wrongdoing has been found / announced regarding the Queens Borough Public Library management of funds. And the 2013 Queens Borough Public Library’s financial statements were audited and prepared by the Certified Public Accounting firm of Israeloff, Trattner and Company of Garden City.
  • The question is, whether gutting the Queens Borough Public Library of its independence is the right way to accomplish this as was done in the Queens Library Reform bill passed by the NYS Legislature in June 2014. See section above and related story entitled Queens Library Corruption Scandal.

• Issue - Precedent For Usurping The Independence Of Non-Profits / Change Of Control & Ownership Impact On Donors' & Employees' Rights / Politicization Of Organizations To Which Government Funds Are Donated.
  • Can the government, by virtue of the NYS Queens Library Reform bill signed on June 26th, essentially take over the independence and governance of the Queens Borough Public Library while maintaining that the Queens Borough Public Library Corporation is independent when defacto it is not? Is this a good legal precedent?
  • Now that the NYC government has complete control and has essentially assumed ownership of the Queens Library, do Queens Library donors have the right to request the Queens Library remit their funds as it is no longer independently operated? Does the Queens Library still have the right to present itself as an independent non-profit organization for the solicitation of donations when it is entirely controlled by the Mayor, Borough President and hence has become a government agency? Are Queens Library employees now entitled to the same benefits as NYC employees, as the Queens Borough Library Corporation has been de facto eliminated as an independent organization?
  • Does this open the door to other funding reliant, non-profit takeovers by the government? Will that improve them or will they become populated with political staffers? Will non-profit cultural venues become politicized? Is this a good legal precedent? Is this a good cultural precedent? Go to the Queens Buzz opinions section to see letters written by the American Library Association and several other experts in the field.

• Issue - Library Privacy / Thought Control / Employment Of Library Professionals or Political Staffers
  • The question is whether public libraries - which serve a very important public function - should be controlled by those in office or operated somewhat independent of the government.
  • These involve our First Amendment Rights to Freedom of Speech & Thought. Should NYC government officials have absolute control over the Queens Borough Public Library as provided in the NYS legislation signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on June 26th, 2014? With no independence / checks and balances, this now makes it POSSIBLE, for government officials to control what you can read via the Queens Library. They could also change the rules to provide themselves with access to the records showing what you read, the books you checked out or the sites you visited while at the Queens Library [just like they just changed the rules giving them control of the Queens Library]. Is this good for the city / nation?
  • The Queens Library System has been successful as an independent entity. Again one can ask will they be staffed by library professionals or will they become populated with political staffers? Go to the Queens Buzz opinions section to see letters written by the American Library Association and several other experts in the field.
    

As things currently stand, the Temporary Restraining Order was not enforced and the Queens Borough Public Library Trustees will be replaced. The lawsuit will go before a judge on Monday, August 11th, to determine its merit. Based on our understanding, the trustees intend to push forward with the lawsuit.

Stay tuned. And thanks for paying attention and participating in the democracy. Thomas Jefferson said,

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

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Judge Recuses Self In Queens Library Trustees' Lawsuit

Judge Mauskopf Recuses Herself As Queens Library Trustees' Lawsuit Includes Reference To Whistleblower Complaint Currently Being Investigated By Close Friend

August 11, 2014 / Queens Issues / News Analysis & Opinion / Queens Buzz.

The lawsuit filed by the Queens Libary Trustees took a bit of turn in the road as Judge Roslynn Mauskopf recused herself today, citing close relations to the attorney retained by the Queens Library who is working on an investigation of a whistleblower complaint referenced by the six Queens Library Trustees. The whistleblower complaint investigation is ongoing and preceded the plaintiffs' dismissals and subsequent lawsuit. The photo of the statue to your right was taken in Manhattan in front of the State Supreme Court Appellate Division building.

The six trustees' reference to the whistleblower complaint is alleged to be a seminal event relative to the First Amendment claims made by the Queens Library trustees against Queens Borough President Melinda Katz as an individual. This was Claim 3, which is outlined with the other claims, as well as the Queens Borough President's defense, in a prior report about the Queens Library Trustees' Lawsuit.

Queens Library Whistleblower Complaint

As we understand it, the Whistleblower complaint was presented to the Queens Library Board on July 2, 2014 by George Stamatiades, one of the Queens Library Trustees. The complaint requests the investigation of the leaking of confidential board matters because the public leaks were interfering with the trustees' ability to conduct Queens Library business. George Stamatiades is shown in the photo below right - to the left.

The Whistleblower complaint alleges:

"[Queens Borough President Melinda] Katz Orchestrated Negative News Coverage [of the Queens Library & Trustees] Then Fired Plaintiffs Shortly After I [one of the plaintiffs] Lodged A Whistleblower Complaint To Investigate The Leaks Of Confidential Information."

Click here to view the rest of our story about the Judge Recusal in Queens Library Trustees' Lawsuit & Whistleblower / Melinda Katz.

Judge Recuses Self In Queens Library Trustees' Lawsuit

Judge Mauskopf Recuses Herself As Queens Library Trustees' Lawsuit Includes Reference To Whistleblower Complaint Currently Being Investigated By Close Friend

August 11, 2014 / Queens Issues / News Analysis & Opinion / Queens Buzz. Continued.

On July 10, 2014 the Queens Library retained former judge Barbara S. Jones to investigate the leaks of confidential information.

On July 17 the trustees met to discuss the retention of the judge for purposes of this investigation, where supporters of the Queens Borough President were in attendance, as well as those who were supportive of the investigation into the Queens Borough Public Library Trustees' confidential information leaks.

Six days later, on July 23, 2014, the six trustees who were supporting the whistleblower investigation into the leaks of confidential information were dismissed by the Queens Borough President. This was the timeline provided in the complaint.

Judge Mauskopf Recuses Herself From Queens Library Trustees' Lawsuit

Judge Mauskopf said in her statement recusing herself that:

".. the [whistleblower] investigation and its outcome are directly relevant to the plaintiff's claims."

Judge Mauskopf went on to say she believed that she could fairly judge the trial, but that according to Canon 2 of the law she must recuse herself. Here is an excerpt of her public statement.

"So let me explain the basis for the recusal. I do have a very longstanding and very close friendship with the attorney retained by library to do the investigation. The relationship I would characterize is like that of a close relative and of a degree not just with the investigator, but the broader family of the investigator.

That raises an appearances problem under Canon 2, particularly given the fact that the investigation and its outcome are directly relevant to the plaintiff's claims. Indeed, the plaintiffs raised the facts that are being investigated as key and relevant in their supplemental papers.

As you all know, the investigation, the internal investigation was prompted by a whistleblower complaint filed by Plaintiff Stamatiades and was supported at a board meeting by all of the other plaintiffs here. And as the supplemental papers indicate, all of the plaintiff's were fired six days after the filing and the discussion of this whistleblower complaint.

The results of the internal investigation are central to the claims here, both the contract laws claim and the First Amendment retaliation claims. The investigation, the internal investigation appears to be central to the fact development in this case.

It is likely that the results of that investigation will be the subject of discovery. Given the tenor of the dispute between the parties, there is a potential for discovery disputes related to that internal investigation.

Certainly, the results of the internal investigation -- its credibility may likely be an issue in this case. There is also the potential for the investigator to be a witness in this particular case, either in discovery or in some other capacity.

And while I am fully confident that I could be fair and impartial, given the nature of the relationship, the degree of that relationship and the critical nature of the internal investigation and its results to the claims in this case, Canon 2 of the code of conduct and the guidance given by the advisory opinions require my recusal in this case."

So the clerk will be reassigning this case to another judge.

Queens Borough President's Office Response

UPDATE. August 12, 2014. Today the Queens Borough President's Office informed us that the magistrate judge made a report and recommendation to deny the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction [this was previously done by the judge who recused herself]. The new judge assigned to the case is expected to decide upon this recommendation within the next couple of days. In the photo at right is Queens Borough President Melinda Katz.

We asked the Queens Borough President's Office for comments related to the whistleblower complaint and judge recusal. The following is their statement:

“It is disturbing [to Queens Borough President Melinda Katz] that Mr. Galante [Queens Borough President CEO], without Board approval, can direct Library resources to be used in this manner.  These resources should be going toward providing Library services to communities like the Rockaways, who still have their branch being run out of a trailer.  These are all diversionary tactics and they are tiresome.  The QPL doesn’t belong to one trustee or to one executive director.  We need to let the remaining Trustees move on with the business of the Library, including opening up the records to New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer.”

To fully understand the background, context and issues involved is this very complicated, very heated and very public battle for control of the Queens Borough Public Library, click on the following two links to prior reports published about it. And stay tuned.

Click here for the first story we posted about the Queens Library Reform Legislation which talks about how the conflict began, including a review of the [at the time] pending NYS legislation. And click here for our report about events since passage of the law including about the Queens Library Trustees' lawsuit.

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Queens Library Trustees Drop Lawsuit

Whistleblower / Freedom Of Information Law Request Continues

QBP Katz Does About Face On Providing Public With Transparency

Updated Dec 12th / December 1, 2014 / Queens Library / News Analysis & Opinion / Queens Buzz.

Last week the six former trustees of the Queens Library decided to drop their lawsuit against Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Attorney General Schneiderman and the State of New York.

The Judge signed their Notice of Dismissal [shown at right] on November 26, 2014. The Notice of Dismissal states:

"PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that whereas no party has served an answer or motion for summary judgment, Plaintiffs, by their undersigned counsel, hereby dismiss the above-captioned action, and all claims asserted in it, without prejudice, pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure."

The Queens Borough President issued a press release stating,

"Judge dismisses lawsuit against BP Katz".

What actually happened is that the Notice of Dismissal was made at the request of the plaintiffs as shown in the document to your right and signed by the Judge.

Many of the local newspapers re-published portions of the press release without citing that the dismissal was at the request of the plaintiffs - thus making it appear as though the Judge had decided to dismiss the case - not that the plaintiffs had decided to drop it. Since we first published this piece, several have updated their reports.

Whistleblower Investigation: Was The Law Broken?

The plaintiffs will continue with their Whistleblower / Freedom Of Information [aka FOIL] request, which according to one source, the six former Queens Library Trustees will pursue until the information is released to the public.

Click here to continue reading our report about how the Queens Library Trustees dropped their lawsuit against Queens Borough President Melinda Katz.

Queens Library Trustees Drop Lawsuit

Whistleblower / Freedom Of Information Law Request Continues

QBP Katz Does About Face On Providing Public With Transparency

Updated Dec 12th / December 1, 2014 / Queens Library / News Analysis & Opinion / Queens Buzz. Continued.

The Whistleblower complaint was determine whether someone on the Queens Library Board of Trustees was not adhering to their fiduciary responsibility to keep confidential Queens Library Board of Trustee information. The investigation was to determine from where the leaks were coming. The lawsuit alleged that the leaks were coming from the Queens Borough President's representative on the Board.

It Appears The Leaked Information Was Used To Gain Control Of Queens Public Library

The leaked information was published by the NY Daily News in a couple of 'exclusive' reports in January and March of 2014 [click links to view Daily News stories]. The Queens Borough President then took the leaked information once made public, and used it to call for Queens Library reforms. She enlisted the support of two Queens NYS legislators in crafting legislation called the Queens Library Reform Act, which was primarily redundant legislation to laws already on the books, except that it also included a change of control of the Queens Library Board of Trustees from independent board to one completely beholden to the Queens Borough President and the NYC Mayor - as trustees became expendable without recourse within a week of notice. The Queens Borough President and the NYC Mayor were also given de facto approval rights to Queens Library new key hires.

The lawsuit was dropped last week by the six trustees who cited resource constraints; but the FOIL request to make the Whistleblower complaint report public continues.

Governance In Queens & NYS: Where's The American 'Due Process' & What Happened To The American Axiom Of 'Presumed Innocent Until Proven Guilty'?

One of the most disturbing aspects of this case was that three investigative bodies have been evaluating the Queens Library since late February / early March of 2014. To date [December 2014] not one of them has publicly announced that there's been any wrongdoing.

Yet, if you search 'Queens Library corruption' or 'Thomas Galante corruption', you'd think that there definitely was corruption at the Queens Library.

And over five months ago the entire New York State Assembly and entire the New York State Senate [save one] and the New York State Governor drafted and passed a bill to 'reform the Queens Library' on the 'ASSUMPTION that something was broken', because the investigative bodies are still looking into the matter and to date have still not determined whether any laws were even broken.

This is akin to having a mechanic fix your car before they told you what was wrong with it. Or having a doctor prescribing drugs or performing an operation on you before they had told you what ailment you had. I thought that in America you're presumed to be 'innocent until proven guilty' - not 'guilty until proven innocent' as appears to be the case here.

If you believe that following due process and that the assumption of innocence until proven guilty are the right way go about things, then it seems that the passing of the Queens Library Reform Act prior to receiving the investigative reports - regardless of the investigative findings - was simply the wrong way to address this situation.

Queens Public Library: Where's The Tranparency?

Currently the Queens Borough President and the Queens Library are either denying or ignoring [which is legally a denial] FOIL requests for information pertaining to the Whistleblower inquiry investigation.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, after spending the first eight months of her presidency calling for public transparency into the operations of the Queens Library, now finds herself in the position of denying the public transparency into the alleged - and possibly unlawful - role of her Office in stirring up the Queens Library conflict.

The Queens Library's management of funds came into the public eye in January / February of 2014 when reports about the Chief Executive's compensation, second job and office renovations were highlighted in a number of 'exclusive' reports published by the Daily News. The FBI, NYC Department of Investigations and NYC Comptroller have been investigating the Queens Library since late February / early March of 2014 and to date no wrongdoing has been announced.

Investigations: Watergate 17 Months. Queens Public Library 9 Months & Counting

As a point of comparison, the investigation has been ongoing for nine months, which is more than half as long as the Watergate investigation [17 months] wherein the most powerful man in the world was playing investigative defense. The CEO of the Queens Library has been on paid leave since September of 2014.

Was There Any Wrongdoing? How Long Will The Award Winning Queens Public Library Be Held Under A Cloud Of Suspicion?

The question now is how long will these investigative bodies hold the award winning Queens Public Library under a cloud of suspicion, before they announce that there WAS or WAS NOT any wrongdoing?

Government officials have provided detailed excerpts of CEO Galante's time sheets and expense reports, but nothing that - thus far - indicates any wrongdoing.

Ongoing Investigative Cloud Of Suspicion May Cost NYC Taxpayers Million $ Or Cost Queens Residents Loss Of Library Services

The unresolved allegations [google - queens library corruption] leaves a cloud of suspicion over the Queens Public Library and must certainly make fundraising for the non-profit far more challenging, while continuing to distract many of the library staff as they carry out their duties.

This cloud of suspicion could cost the taxpayer millions in additional public funding [to make up the deterioration in non-profit funds raised], or cause a loss of library services for Queens residents. Only the NYC Comptroller's Office provided us with an estimate of when they expect to complete their investigation [Winter / Spring 2015]. The FBI and DOI do not comment on ongoing investigations.

More to come either later in December or sometime in January, as we continue our investigation into this important story.

In the meantime, you can read for yourself, how the Queens Borough President presents information regarding the dismissal of the Queens Library lawsuit to the public at http://queensbp.org/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-filed-against-bp-katz-by-former-queens-library-trustees/.

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A Closer Look into the Role of the NY Daily News Coverage in the Takeover of the Queens Library

• Real Estate Billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman's NY Daily News Continuously Portrays the Fiscally Sound, Award Winning Queens Library Board of Trustees & CEO in a Negative Light

• While Lauding the Brooklyn Public Library Trustees for Sale of Real Estate to Developer to Obtain Needed $40 Million Cash

• The Queens Library has 62 Branch Locations Sitting Atop Some of the Best Real Estate in Queens Worth Hundred$ of Million$ or more

• Queensborough President Melinda Katz Appears to have had Prior Relationship with Daily News Owner Mortimer Zuckerman's Boston Properties as Lobbyist

Updated December 20 / December 16, 2014 / Queens Library / News Analysis & Opinion / Queens Buzz / By Michael Wood & Edited By Agnes Wood.

Please note that to date no public official have spoken about any development deals using Queens Library property.

 

NY Daily News Publication of Leaks with No Announcement of Real Wrongdoing - What Happened to Presumption of Innocence?

I’m going to work under the assumption that Queens Library CEO Thomas Galante is innocent of all charges until proven guilty. That is the way things are supposed to be done in America.

Many leaks of all kinds of confidential information about the Queens Library CEO have made their way into Real Estate Billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman's NY Daily News this year - including plenty of minutiae - but not a single word about any real wrongdoing.

NY Daily News Headlines Appear to Play Role in Queens Library Takeover - Urging Replacement of Governance Team

The NY Daily News appears to have done more than just report on the Queens Library crisis of confidence. In fact, the NY Daily News was the first to report the crisis - and they appear to have played a major role throughout it - as their organization urged the dismissal of President & CEO Galante and the trustees who supported him on numerous occasions in the headlines alone. The following are some examples of headlines taken from stories in the NY Daily News:

• March 31, 2014 - Headline reads: "Turn The Page On Tom / Why the Queens Library Chief can no longer be trusted"

• June 27, 2014 - Headline reads: "Sack them all / Bye-bye to Queens Library Chief Tom Galante — and the board members who enabled his reign of greed"

• July 24, 2014 - Headline reads: "Sack Galante next / Incompetent Queens Library board being dismantled"

• December 11, 2014 - Headline reads: "Fat city fathead / Thousands of reasons to fire Tom Galante"
  

The NY Daily News - Name Calling in its Editorial Coverage

Last week, the Daily News provided the public with more details of Queens Library CEO Thomas Galante’s expense reports over the past (few) year(s). Their presentation of the information appeared one-sided and cast Queens Library CEO in a negative light, as little effort seems to have been made to explain the business purpose or provide context for the expenditures.

The NY Daily News also published an editorial, which resorted to name-calling including calling Galante:

• “fathead”
• "little piggy"
• "emperor"
• and characterizing his spending as “preposterous”

This was not the first time they called him names in their publication this year.

We'll explore recent coverage by the Daily News in a more detail further down in this report, as it is reflective of their coverage of this crisis of confidence in the Queens Library all year. A crisis which the Daily News in fact began, with a series of exclusive reports earlier in the year.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz Appears To Have Had Prior Relationship with NY Daily News Owner Mortimer Zuckerman's Boston Properties as a Lobbyist

According to a source, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz appears to have had prior relationship with NY Daily News Owner Mortimer Zuckerman's Boston Properties as a lobbyist working for Greenberg Traurig law firm in 2012.

A New York Observer story dated, April 10, 2012, states:

"... Still, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has expressed skepticism toward the project, which he would like to see reduced in size, and the community panned the rezoning outright."

"To help makes its case, NYU recently retained Ed Wallace and Melinda Katz, two land-use attorneys who have helped shape a number of important development projects as they wended their way through public review—not least because both of them also once spent time as members of the  City Council, the body that will have the ultimate say on NYU’s rezoning."

And a bit later in the story.

"Mr. Wallace served as the councilman-at-large for Manhattan and chief of  staff to the council president back in the old days of the Board of Estimate, after which he joined Mort Zuckerman’s Boston Properties before moving over to Greenberg Traurig, the law firm where he is now co-managing partner of the New York office. Ms. Katz joined the firm in 2010 as a partner in the real estate division after serving two terms in the council, one of which was spent as chair of the influential land-use committee, where she oversaw a number of redevelopments similar to NYU’s."

The NYC government maintains a website showing registered lobbyists' relationships with clients. We took this image from the NYC.gov website which shows that from March through December of 2012 - one year before she became Queens Borough President - Melinda Katz was a registered lobbyist working for the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, with a client relationship with Mortimer Zuckerman's Boston Properties.

 

Click here to read our report regarding the Queens Library controversy and the Daily News reporting of it.

A Closer Look into the Role of the Daily News Coverage in Takeover of Queens Library

• Zuckerman's NY Daily News Continuously Portrays the Fiscally Sound, Award Winning Queens Library Board of Trustees & CEO in a Negative Light

• While Lauding the Brooklyn Public Library Trustees for Sale of Real Estate to Developer to Obtain Needed $40 Million Cash

• The Queens Library has 62 Branch Locations Sitting Atop Some of the Best Real Estate in Queens Worth Hundred$ of Million$ or more

• Queensborough President Melinda Katz Appears to have had Prior Relationship with Daily News Owner Mortimer Zuckerman's Boston Properties as Lobbyist

Updated December 20 / December 16, 2014 / Queens Library / Queens News Analysis & Opinion - Issues / Queens Buzz. Continued.

Presumption Of Guilt Facilitates Takeover & Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law

The award winning, fiscally sound Queens Library CEO Thomas Galante appears to have been presumed to be guilty from the start of the year and is still under clouds of suspicion - even though there hasn't been any announcement of wrongdoing. On Wednesday, December 17th, QBP Katz will likely succeed in removing him and her control of the Queens Library will be complete. While Mayor de Blasio has an equal voice in the organization, he is expected to generally defer to her guidance.

And then - the long overdue announcements or reports by the three investigative organizations - which have been evaluating the Queens Library over the past ten months - likely won’t affect who is in control. Even if their reports show that the Queens Library and its CEO are as clean as a whistle.

Coincidence? Scott Stringer Announces NYC Libraries Audit on January 29, 2014 - one day After NY Daily News Publication of Leaked Queens Library Info

One day after the NY Daily News published leaked confidential information of Queens Library CEO Thomas Galante's compensation, company car, office remodeling and second gig - the newly elected NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer announced that his office would be conducting an audit of the NYC Library system. His office issued a press release stating that:

"New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer announced today he will audit New York City’s three library systems, starting with an audit engagement letter sent yesterday to Thomas W. Galante, President and CEO of the Queens Borough Public Library."

Scott Stringer is quoted in the press release:

“Our public libraries are vital resources for New Yorkers and taxpayers deserve to know that public money is being used appropriately,” Stringer said. “My auditors will assess whether the spending practices of our library systems follow applicable rules and prudent business practices. We want our libraries to maximize the value of the public funds they receive while finding ways that they can be more efficient and effective from top to bottom.”

QBP Katz and the ‘Bully Pulpit’

During the campaign, QBP candidate Melinda Katz made reference to using the ‘bully pulpit’ as one of the tools in the arsenal of the Queens Borough President. The bully pulpit is a:

“a position that is sufficiently conspicuous for one to speak out on things and be listened to”

President Theodore Roosevelt coined the term. It was a memorable comment, because of its insight into the use of political power.

Where’s the Transparency: Some FOIL Requests Granted & Some Not

In one of her most recent press releases, QBP Katz lauded the insertion of the public’s ability to make Freedom of Information Law [FOIL] requests to the library because of the newly enacted Queens Library Reform Act. She hailed it as a new era of transparency.

And yet QBP Katz’s own office and newly installed Queens Library Board of Trustees seem to expedite Daily News FOIL [Freedom of Information Law] requests, while ignoring and denying the FOIL requests made by the six former Queens Library trustees over three months ago.

On November 7, 2014, Douglas Grover, attorney for the six former Queens Library Trustees, sent an appeal to the attorney of the Queens Public Library to quit denying the public access to view the findings of Whistleblower Complaint filed by former Queens Library Trustee George Stamatiades.

"I am writing to appeal the Queens Borough Public Library's denial of the information requested by George Stamatiades (the "whistleblower"), Joseph Ficarola, Jacqueline Arrington, Terri Mangino, William Jefferson, and Grace Lawrence (collectively with Stamatiades the "former trustees") pursuant to New York Freedom of Information Law ("FOIL") as set forth in Article 6 of New York Public Officers Law (the "FOIL Law").

Specifically, in a letter dated October 9, 2014, the Library's Records Access Officer denied the information requested by the former trustees in a letter dated September 15, 2014, in connection with the whistleblower investigation ("First FOIL Request"). On November 4, 2014, the Library Records Access Officer denied items (a) and (e) requested by the former trustees in a letter dated October 2, 2014 ("Second FOIL Request"). Item (a) is a request for the report prepared by former federal judge Barbara S. Jones, who conducted the whistleblower investigation; a report that was initiated by Mr. Stamatiades' complaint. Item (c) relates to communications surrounding a meeting of the Board of Trustees held on September 11, 2014, at which time the whistleblower complaint was discussed."

QBP Katz Began Work on the Reform Act Two Weeks Prior to Investigations & Less Than Three Weeks After First Leaks

On January 28, 2014 the NY Daily News published leaked confidential Queens Library information detailing the Queens Library CEO’s salary, cost of company car, office remodeling costs and that he had a second gig. The report sensationalized the leaked confidential information and presented it without much balance or context.

And so the crisis of confidence in the award winning, fiscally sound Queens Public Library began.

Whistleblower Complaint Filed to Investigate Leak & Breach of Fiduciary Obligation

A Whistleblower Complaint was filed alleging that QBP Melinda Katz Office leaked the confidential information, in a breach of her office’s fiduciary obligation to the Queens Library. The suit was dropped by the six former trustees in late November, citing time and resource constraints.

Wikipedia describes a fiduciary relationship as:

“In a fiduciary relationship, one person, in a position of vulnerability, justifiably vests confidence, good faith, reliance, and trust in another whose aid, advice or protection is sought in some matter. In such a relation good conscience requires the fiduciary to act at all times for the sole benefit and interest of the one who trusts.”

In the United States of America breach of a fiduciary obligation is illegal.

Queens Library Reform Act Redundant to Nonprofit Revitalization Act - Except for the Library Change of Control

Once the leaked confidential information was made public by the NY Daily News, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz used it to initiate legislation to reform the allegedly “out of control spending” of Queens Library. In fact, only three weeks after the first NY Daily News ‘exclusive’ report about the Queens Library spending, she informed the Queens Library Board of Trustees in a February 18, 2014 letter, that she had already initiated an effort to draft legislation to ‘reform’ the Queens Library governance. Katz's February 18th letter said:

“Finally, please be advised that I am working together with Assembly Member, and Speaker temp ore Jeffrion Aubry to introduce state legislation that would codify the best practices outlined above … These measures would also modernize the appointment and removal structure for the Board of Trustees.”

Thus QBP Katz’s reform effort, which included obtaining governance control, began weeks before the investigative organizations were reported to have started looking into the possibility of wrongdoing in the Queens Public Library’s affairs.

And nearly all of the legislation - save the change in governance / control of the library's board of trustees and approval of key hires - was redundant to the Nonprofit Revitalization Act passed just a year earlier which the Queens Library was in the midst of implementing.

By May New NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer goes to Court Seeking to Audit Queens Library Non Profit Foundation

By early May 2014, three months after NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer announced he would be auditing the Queens Library, he went to court to seek access to the financial statements of the non-profit segment of the Queens Library. In a May 22, 2014 story, the Queens Tribune reported:

"This week ... City Comptroller Scott Stringer revealed that his case against Queens Library has made its way to court and that he is confident there will be a ruling in his favor."

Comptroller Hevesi made a similar effort to obtain access to the privately funded segment of the Queens Library in 1997. There was a court agreement made at the time, with which the Queens Library had complied. According to a report in the Queens Ledger dated May 14, 2014, a Stringer spokesperson explained why they were going to court, given there was a court agreement with Hevesi in 1997.

"Stringer has taken the Queens Library to court, because, according to Stringer spokesman Eric Sumberg, he believes the law created under Hevesi’s leadership is

“inappropriate, immoral and unlawful.”"

The Queens Chronicle May 9, 2014 report included a joint Katz-Stringer press release which included the following.

“What happened last night at the Queens Borough Public Library was a disgrace,” Comptroller Stringer said. “It is a shame that the members of the Queens Library board who voted against their own colleagues’ resolution have continued to embrace library management’s anti-transparency policies. No public entity is above the law. Parliamentary maneuvers may buy them some time, but rest assured that I am determined to make sure that taxpayers know how their money is being spent at this library system.”

It's worth mentioning that the NYC Comptroller's Office has had full access to the publicly funded portion of the Queens Library since Andrew Carnegie donated the funds to create it a century ago.

And nearly a year after Stringer's NYC Comptroller's Office began its audit, there's been plenty of public innuendo, but no announcement of any real wrongdoing.

Haste Makes Waste: Legislation to ‘Reform’ the Library Passed Long Before Investigators Tell Us If Anything is Even Wrong

QBP Katz used the NY Daily News press reports of leaked confidential Queens Library Board of Trustees information to get the NYS legislators to pass legislation reforming the Queens Library. The Queens Library Reform Act was signed into law in June 2014.

The NYS law was passed well in advance of the investigative organizations finishing their probes - because almost ten months later - none of them have been completed. The Queens Library Reform Act essentially gave the Queens Borough President Melinda Katz control of the Queens Library Board of Trustees and approval of all new key hires.

But CEO Thomas Galante remained in her way.

NY Daily News Exclusive - Select Details from Queens Library Accounts

As mentioned above, the NYC Comptroller has had access to and audited the 85% of the library that is publicly funded for the past century. And the NYC Comptroller has had unfettered access to the 15% of the Queens Library that is privately funded, for over three months.

By October 3, 2014 plenty of detail about Queens Library CEO Thomas Galante’s expenses were released. The information was first published in a NY Daily News Exclusive report which included the following second headline.

"City Controller Scott Stringer was 'deeply troubled' to uncover Galante's misuse of tax dollars in his review of library finances from fiscal year 2013."

The expenses were released by the NY Daily News with little explanation of their business purpose.

We asked both the NYC and NYS Comptroller's Offices if it was typical for an auditor to comment on an audit prior to its completion. The NYS Comptroller's Office replied:

"We generally DON'T comment on audits until they are complete"

NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer's office has not responded to our inquiry asking them on how many other audits have they made public comments this year, prior to the completion of the audit.

NY Daily News Front Page Headline Accuses Galante of “Cookin’ The Books”

A couple of visuals were included with the most recent NY Daily News story to lend impact and possibly credence to their reports. They included front-page images of their own newspaper, one of which was published on March 28, 2014 which in tabloid fashion screams:

" Galante “‘Cookin’ The Books”

I looked that phrase up and here’s what I found.

“a frequent practice of lying and cheating in any record bookkeeping, in order to substantially increase your own personal profit and earnings. Or knowingly providing incorrect information in a company’s financial statements.”

That claim has not been substantiated based on any of the Daily News reports I have read to date.

NY Daily News Criticizes Galante’s International Travel Without Referencing the Fact That Queens Serves the Most Ethnically Diverse Population in the World, Half of Whom Have International Origins

The NY Daily News reporting includes listing the cities Galante visited on his company expense account including international trips. They questioned why a Queens Library CEO might attend international conferences and mostly didn’t explain why. Here’s what the Daily News reported on December 11, 2014:

“The records, dating from December 2011, also reveal numerous all-expense-paid trips Galante took on supposed library business to cities like Barcelona; Amsterdam; Athens; Helsinki; Aspen, Colo., and Newport Beach, Calif.”

I found someone close to the Queens Library who informed me that the Galante trips were to library conferences hosted by the American Library Association, the International Library Association and the Public Library Association as well as a number of more regional library groups.

It's worth noting that several substantive book donations have been made to the Queens Library from other parts of the world, including from the Middle East and China, to help serve Queens ethnically diverse population. One source informed me that CEO Galante was a library professional who kept abreast of changes in the industry and developed relationships with his peers in the nation and around the world. This source said that Galante's passion for library science was one of the reasons why the Queens Library is such an award winning organization.

NY Daily News Omission - Nothing About Queens as an Award Winning, Fiscally Sound Library

The NY Daily News, throughout most or possibly all of its reporting of the Queens Library in 2014, fails to mention that Queens Library is and has been an award winning library for many of the years that CEO Thomas Galante has been in office.

The Queens Library is highly successful, well regarded by its peers, and had a sterling reputation prior to the NY Daily News reports that there was something wrong. And to date the library is fiscally sound.

NY Daily News Ownership - Real Estate Developer Mortimer Zuckerman

The NY Daily News used to be owned by the Chicago Tribune Newspaper Company. The NY Daily News circulation peaked in 1947 when they had 2.7 million readers daily and 4.7 million on Sunday [Wikipedia]. It was acquired by real estate investment trust billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman sometime in the early 1990’s. Mortimer Zuckerman is the founder of Boston Properties, which recently bought the Citibank Center in Midtown NYC from Allied Partners Inc. Zuckerman remains active in business.

The NY Daily News newspaper circulation losses appear to have continued as in 2006 they were reported to have a circulation of 795,000 [Infoplease] and in 2013 a circulation of 400,000 [Journalism.org].

NY Daily News Lauds Cash Strapped Brooklyn Library Property Sale

In a September 22nd, 2014 NY Daily News story, the NY Daily News hailed the Brooklyn Library Trustees’ sale of its property to a real estate developer, Hudson Inc. The following was their opening paragraph.

“The Brooklyn Public Library’s trustees have approved an extraordinarily good deal for their cash-strapped system that would establish a brand-new outpost in Brooklyn Heights to be paid for by the sale to a developer of the city-owned land on which a branch now sits.”

A bit further into the editorial they opine:

"If, that is, the City Council and City Planning Commission give the green light. They should, for the sake of Brooklyn Heights and all the borough’s libraries."

and then,

"The best part of the story: a projected $40 million for repairs to crumbling branches in less glossy parts of the borough."

And they dismiss those who differ with their opinion with the following opinion:

“The streets of the Heights echo with charges that the library system is selling its soul. Nonsense. Brooklyn’s 60-branch network has piled up some $300 million in major construction costs. The city budget’s contribution for that purpose this year: just $20.8 million.”

In a September 18, 2014 post, the Real Deal noted that the total value of the Hudson bid to develop the Brooklyn Heights Library property was $60 million.

While funding is always an issue, it appears that Queens Library CEO Thomas Galante managed the Queens Public Library prudently enough so that it is not cash strapped, and not yet in the position where it has to sell the land it sits on because it needs cash.

If one Brooklyn Library Deal Is Valued At $60 Million & Yields $40 Million Cash - Then What's the Total Potential Value of Development Deals on 62 Queens Library Properties? Hundred$ of Million$ or more

Please note that to date no public official has spoken about any development deals using Queens Library property.

The development deal for the Brooklyn Heights Public Library received approval by its Board of Trustees in September 2014. The last report we found online indicated that they must obtain approval by City Hall - the current status of which we were unable to obtain as of this writing.

Here are just a few Queens Libraries of its 62 Branch Locations Sitting Atop Queens Prime Real Estate

The Queens Library has 62 libraries, some or most of which were funded by Andrew Carnegie when he founded the Queens Library in a contract with the city and state a century ago. He took great pains, over the course of a decade, to ensure an independent library governance in the contract, which QBP Katz's Queens Library Reform Act recently gutted in June of 2014.

Queens Library has branches sitting on large swaths of valuable Queens real estate in all parts of Queens. The following are a few examples:

• Astoria / LIC on Broadway near Steinway and 21st Street blocks from Queens Plaza and on Broadway off Steinway Street
• Bayside on Bell Blvd and on Northern Blvd
• Corona on 104th Street only steps away from the #7 subway and on Northern Blvd
• Douglaston on Northern Blvd
• Flushing on Main Street only a couple blocks away from the #7 subway [some prices over $500 / square foot]
• Forest Hills on 71st Avenue
• Glen Oaks & Hillcrest along the Union Turnpike
• Howard Beach along 156th Avenue
• Jackson Heights on 81st Street off 37th Avenue
• Jamaica off Jamaica Avenue on Merrick and on 137th Street and on Guy Brewer Blvd
• Long Island City on Court Square in the Citibank Building [prices over $300 / square foot]
• Rego Park on 63rd Drive
• Richmond Hill on Hillside Avenue
• Ridgewood on Madison Street
• Rockaway Beach Blvd
• Sunnyside on Greenpoint Avenue
• Whitestone on 14th Avenue and on 14th Road
• Woodside on Skillman Avenue steps from Roosevelt Avenue

Katz’s New Queens Library Board of Trustees Expected to Issue Report on Galante Expenses & Then Sack Him

According to a December 11, 2014 NY Daily News story, the newly re-constituted Queens Library Board of Trustees would issue their own report regarding CEO Thomas Galante’s spending. The NY Daily News seemed to indicate that all of the expenses were authorized, while opining and characterizing the spending as “wild” and “extravagant” and they noted that he would "possibly be dismissed". The NY Daily News informed us that CEO Thomas Galante

“could be fired following a review by the library’s new trustees into his wild spending”

Appearance of Legitimacy: The new Queens Library Board of Trustees Voted to Complete the Takeover

Did Queens Library Trustees risk being sacked if they had voted to oppose the removal of CEO Thomas Galante?

And did the Queens Library Reform Act of June 2014 - which transferred the control of the Queens Library to the Queens Borough President and the Mayor by providing them with the authority to remove trustees on a weeks notice without redress - improve the governance of the Queens Library or harm it?

Andrew Carnegie, who would be a multi-billionaire today, gave back all of the wealth he accumulated, to the people. He founded about half of the public libraries in America and in the course of setting up the Queens Public Library system took great pains over the course of a decade to create a governance structure that was independent from government officials / politicians. All of his work in this regard was undone in the past ten months of this year.

Is it better to have 19 trustees, appointed by different Mayors and Queens Borough Presidents, vote independently on the major issues and key hires of the Queens Library without fear of being dismissed? Or to have the Borough President and the Mayor make all of the decisions about who is hired, how the library funds are allocated, whether library property should be sold or leased and to whom, and what content the public should be able to view in the Queens Public Library?

Thomas Jefferson said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of democracy." and "Those who think one can be ignorant and free, believe in something that never was and never will be."

Stay tuned. There's more to come including the FOIL request of the Whistleblower Complaint, the reports by all three investigative bodies and possibly follow on litigation.