ALBANY — Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, a co-chairwoman of Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission, is under fire from leaders of her own
party over her handling of a political scandal in her home county.
Rice, a Democrat, last week released a letter that found no criminality in a case involving Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Dale — who, at the urging of Gary Melius, a politically connected donor, personally directed officers to arrest a key witness in a case connected to the county executive race.
A county official suggested Rice sought to protect political cronies — and warned she may have jeopardized her political career.
“Rice certainly hasn’t helped her credibility for rooting out corruption when this is the job she did here in he own county,” the official said. “She did a snow job here.
“I think she really blew it.”
Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs, a longtime Rice ally and one-time state party chairman, called her conclusion of no criminality “flaming nonsense.”
“I am disappointed and surprised and I disagree vehemently,” he said.
The witness, campaign worker Randy White, was set to testify in a case involving a third-party aspirant for county executive who Dems believe was a straw candidate designed to help GOP incumbent Edward Mangano.
Two days before the testimony, White was arrested — while riding on a bus — on an outstanding warrant over a $250 fine he hadn’t paid from an unrelated misdemeanor conviction.
Although Dale resigned immediately after the findings were released last week, Rice’s determination of no criminality has led to a major backlash from fellow Democrats who believe there should have been at least a witness intimidation charge.
Some question how aggressively Rice’s office investigated, given that the situation touched major Nassau County political figures: Mangano, who Rice found to have no involvement, his police department and Melius.
Former Democratic Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who lost his bid to reclaim the post from Mangano last month, would not comment. But on his Facebook page, he referred to the “witness intimidation scheme.”
Rice spokesman Shams Tarek said the DA is “completely unfazed by all this commentary and is used to ignoring political pressure as she follows the facts and applies the law.”
He added: “That’s why prosecutors and not political parties investigate allegations of corruption.”
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The wife of one of Gov. Cuomo’s high-level aides is no longer working at one of the state’s top lobbying and consulting firms. Karen Hinton, whose husband, Howard Glaser, is Cuomo’s director of state operations, recently left Mercury Public Affairs to focus on her own firm, a Mercury partner said.
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