NYCivic

The Velella watch

Silver Sets Hearings on Early Release;
Post Editorial Uses Porcine Analogies.

By Henry J. Stern
October 20, 2004

A number of you have asked why we have devoted so much attention to the Velella release case. The reason is not that we think Velella is the worst person in public service, the only influence peddler in the State Legislature, or an unpleasant or cruel individual. He is none of the above. Nor do we have a personal grievance with him.

The significant issue here, as we see it, is the abuse of due process by an unheard-of city agency which acted secretly, prematurely, and without a quorum, to release a powerful politician, convicted of fraud, whose already light sentence was the result of a plea bargain between his very able counsel and the district attorney.

What is incredible is that out of 12,400 prisoners on Rikers Island, this clandestine commission (the LCRC - Local Conditional Release Commission) released only five people this year, and three of them were Velella and his co-conspirators, del Toro and Gonzales. This case makes a mockery of equal justice under law.

DOI (The New York City Department of Investigation) has for over three weeks been looking into who said what to whom to spring the senator, who, in and out of government, knew what was going on, when they learned it (the Watergate questions), and what they did after finding out about it. We should also learn what other acts of extortion or misconduct are part of the Velella case. Lost in the commotion is a full report of what he did wrong in the first place that led to his guilty plea, conviction, loss of office, jail sentence and disbarment.

Two news stories today, by Newsday's Dan Janison, "Hearings set on probation panels" and the Post's Fred Dicker, "Public panel will weigh fate of 'free Velella' board," report that State Assembly corrections committee hearings have been convened by Speaker Sheldon Silver for Nov. 16 in New York City, and Dec. 14 in Albany. "The hearings will focus on how the commissions have operated over the past 15 years and, if they are to be continued, how they can be reformed to ensure that they operate consistently, transparently, lawfully and in the public interest," said the speaker's statement. We hope that turns out to be true.

In a spirited editorial today, "Mike's Moment of Truth," the Post again took up the Velella case. They began quite colorfully, "Like the blind pig who finds the proverbial acorn, the City Council had something useful to add to the case against Guy Velella ... The Council has determined that the commission voted to free Velella without the legally required quorum on hand." The Post calls on Mayor Bloomberg to act promptly in the matter. They ask, again using the imagery of the pigsty, "Does the mayor want to wallow in the same muck that produced the Velella scandal in the first place? Such stains aren't easily removed."

We don't think the mayor can act responsibly until he gets the DOI report that he has ordered, but the part of their analysis that deals with legal matters (e.g. the quorum issue) can precede the full inquiry into deniable conversations, since witnesses who may be asked those questions may have reasons to be less than truthful. It may require several examinations to detect whether the witness are truthful or committing perjury.

But on issues on which the Council committee and the new LCRC have expressed a viewpoint, it should not take an inquiry which began on September 29 more than a few days more to report to the mayor and to the public. Rule 29-P: "The perfect is the enemy of the good." We await word from DOI.

Although the mayor had nothing to do with this situation, and had no recollection of the existence of the agency in which it occurred, he is undoubtedly by now fully aware of the issue. His own honesty is unchallenged, but he will be judged on how he handles other people's dishonesty or incompetence.

He got off to a good start by a thorough housecleaning which included the deputy commissioner responsible for LCRC. The next step is to get the DOI report and act on it. Although no one seeks unseemly haste, delay breeds suspicion, particularly in a case of inappropriate favoritism. Rule 13-B: "Bite the bullet."