• Document Cloud
  • FOIL–Your Right to Know
  • See Through NY
  • Tax Exempt
  • Environmental Justice
  • Campaign Finance Reports

Preserve Ramapo

www.preserve-ramapo.com

  • Home
  • Join our email
  • Donate
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • The Archive
You are here: Home / St. Lawrence trial / St. Lawrence trial: Jackson annoys judge, emails were deleted

St. Lawrence trial: Jackson annoys judge, emails were deleted

May 5, 2017 by Michael Castelluccio

Image of delete email function

St. Lawrence trial, day 10 May 4, 2017

Leonard Jackson, the civil engineer who worked on St. Lawrence’s stadium and the Elm Street condos, was late. Court didn’t start until 9:55, and Judge Seibel was not pleased. When Jackson was asked about it, he blamed traffic on the way over.

There were two lines of questioning remaining from the prosecution’s inquiry begun the day before—the $898,000 owed to his firm by the RLDC and an odd query about where the water runoff from the roofs and the street at Ramapo Commons (Elm Street condos) went.

The prosecution apparently returned to the unpaid near one million-dollar debt to show that the Town finances were worse than represented to the bond attorneys and Moody’s. The account payable went back several years. Jackson’s firm did the first proposal for the ballpark in 2009 as well as the proposal for drainage and a sand filter on Elm Street. In 2015, Jackson wrote Mona Montal about the $898,000 owed him, and then met with Supervisor St. Lawrence who negotiated the debt down to under $700K.

Prosecutor James McMahon then asked whether the water from the roofs of the buildings get directed into the sand filter that was installed by Jackson’s company to mitigate the flooding problem in the area. Jackson replied, I believe so. Pressed, Jackson said he would have to look at the drawings.

McMahon then commented, When you met with me last month you said you have a vested interest in the outcome of the trial. You said, I hope Mr. St. Lawrence is found not guilty because he has done nothing wrong. And you expressed a hope that you don’t lose any business.

Jackson was then excused from the courtroom to look over his schematic drawings to see where the water would drain on Elm Street.

The next witness was Tiffany Jade Lee-Allan, a municipal bond analyst from the Moody’s rating group. Lee-Allan worked on the ratings for the RLDC $25M Bond in 2013 (that’s the refinance of the 2011 bond) and the 2014 bonds. The long, abstract interrogation that followed revolved around the downgrading of Moody’s rating for the town to a A-1 with a negative outlook.

Taking up most of the day, the dialogue revolved around two key issues: Moody’s pays special attention to the strength of the General Fund when determining the risk to investors, and the reason that the ratings remained as investor grade was that the debt being accumulated by the RLDC was co-signed, backed up by the taxpayers which provided the security to keep the rating where it was. The tax base in Ramapo is wealthy enough to cover the excessive debts being run up by St. Lawrence’s development corporation. This is not the way the law says LDCs are supposed to operate. They are to operate at arm’s length from the Town government and there is supposed to be no mingling of funds between the town and the LDC.

Before the lunch break Leonard Jackson was led back in and the question was asked by McMahon, again: Does water from the 11 roofs and roads run into the sand filter?

He answered, Yes. But the question that remained unanswered, Why the interest by the feds in this construction detail involving Jackson’s company?

Before the jurors returned from the lunch break, Judge Seibel declared Leonard Jackson a hostile witness.

Jacqueline (Jackie) Eisen 

Jackie Eisen began by explaining she has been Christopher St. Lawrence’s secretary since December 2002.

She was asked if she had access to the Supervisor’s email address. She said she did.

She was then asked if she knew that the Supervisor had a second Gmail account Celebrate New York. She said she didn’t.

Then she was asked about a specific FEMA email sent to her. She said she didn’t recall the specific email. Asked what she normally did with emails for the Supervisor, she replied she would print them and put them on his desk.

Then she was asked, Do you ever delete emails from his accounts?

Yes, she replied, the older ones but she added that she believed they’re kept also on the Town servers.

This admission is eye-opening for two reasons. The first is that any administrator who understands the probative value of emails would not likely ask his secretary to be removing emails from his own office account unless he or she had a very good reason to do so. For instance, if the executive wanted the plausible deniability of answering the question: Did you delete those emails, and why did you do that? With: I didn’t delete any emails. And second, it has been reported that at one point St. Lawrence specifically ordered his staff to stop sending emails that discussed any financial matters. The reason he gave was that those emails could be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests by citizens and investigators. No doubt, that order of the Supervisor will show up somewhere down the line in these hearings.

Hearings will continue tomorrow but on a half day schedule from 9 to 12.

Michael Castelluccio
www.Preserve-Ramapo.com 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: St. Lawrence trial

Preserve Ramapo tree no border

Preserve Ramapo online since 2003

Recent Posts

  • CUPON Chestnut Ridge—Meeting Tonight Tuesday Feb. 19
  • CUPON, born amid Ramapo over-development, goes countywide
  • Spring Valley Mayor Alan Simon disbarred for bad behavior as a judge
  • Airmont: Judge tosses Hasidic congregation’s legal action against village
  • Public Participation Meeting: Northeast Ramapo Charette Work-in-Progress Wed Jan 23

Archives

  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015

Calendar listing for Posts

February 2019
M T W T F S S
« Jan    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728  

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Facebook

Other Links

Airmont,

Pomona,

Montebello,

Suffern,

Sloatsburg,

Hillburn,

Spring Valley,

Chestnut Ridge,

New Hempstead,

Wesley Hills,

Town of Ramapo,

Town of Clarkstown,

Rosa4Rockland,

Rockland Water Coalition

East Ramapo Central School District

Power of Ten -- East Ramapo for the Children,

Strong East Ramapo,

East Ramapo Videos,

Copyright © 2019 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in