Civil service commish fights back

Civil Service Commissioner Leary Wade, whom city officials are seeking to remove from office, appeared before a hearing officer on Monday and claimed that he was the target of political retaliation by City Manager Charles Theofan for cooperating with the Nassau County district attorney’s office during an investigation of the embattled city agency.

Wade, one of three commissioners who was appointed in 2004, was asked to resign in August after city officials said he violated his oath of office by pleading guilty to renting two illegal basement apartments that he co-owns with his brother, Larry Wade.

Theofan said that the charges were serious enough for him to ask for Wade’s resignation, at which point, according to Theofan, Wade threatened him, saying, “I’m going to get you or somebody close to you.”

Last July 23, Wade pleaded guilty in Long Beach City Court to several building code violations stemming from an illegal occupancy in the basement of an East Market Street home. In a second court appearance on Aug. 20, according to Theofan, Wade pleaded guilty to maintaining an illegal kitchen in the basement of another property on East Hudson Street.

Wade’s attorney, Fred Brewington, challenged the city’s grounds for Wade’s removal during Monday’s hearing at Nassau County State Supreme Court, saying that, by cooperating with the district attorney’s office during its investigation of the commission, Wade honored his oath of office. The investigation was initiated last year after the state issued a scathing report criticizing the city agency for failing to comply with laws and regulations for nearly a decade.

Wade, the sole Democrat on the commission, said he notified the state Civil Service Commission and the district attorney about irregularities in the city agency before and after he was issued the violations. Brewington said that Wade was denied access to information about the commission’s operations when he refused to step down, citing a letter Theofan wrote in August directing the commission’s secretary not to provide Wade any information. Theofan said that he later rescinded the letter.

“There were certain issues that came to my attention,” Wade said during the hearing. “I rejected them many times because I know there are rules and bylaws that we have to follow.”

Brewington told former State Supreme Court Justice and Nassau County Administrative Judge Edward G. McCabe, the hearing officer, that he believed the charges against Wade should be dismissed, saying that the city had no grounds, substantial evidence or cause for his removal.

More than 20 of Wade’s supporters and local officials, including City Councilmen Len Torres and Mike Fagen and County Legislator Denise Ford (R-Long Beach) listened to statements by Wade, Brewington, Theofan, the city’s assistant corporation counsel, Robert Agostisi, and several witnesses. The hearing often played out like a TV courtroom drama, with both Brewington and Agostisi raising objections at times over the questioning of the witnesses.

Brewington argued that the city provided only “vague” documents that lacked a specific admission of guilt by Wade, and that only Larry Wade pleaded guilty to the violations on Aug. 20. Leary Wade said that he neither entered a guilty plea in August nor authorized his attorney at the time to do so on his behalf.

Both Theofan and Agostisi, however, said that Wade did plead guilty in August. Agostisi contended that given the guilty pleas and the alleged threat against Theofan, the city had cause for Wade’s removal under New York state Civil Service law.

Theofan said that he asked Wade to come to his office after his August court appearance to discuss what he described as “very serious charges.” “I told him that this was a very serious matter and I suggested that he resign,” Theofan said, adding that Wade then threatened him.

Theofan said that he filed a police report after the threat, but when pressed by Brewington to produce a copy of the report, Theofan could not.

According to Wade, he and his brother were the only people in Theofan’s office when the alleged threat was made, and Wade said he made no threat. “We had a little spat,” he said. “I told him I was reluctant [to resign] after how I was treated and people in the community had been treated. I said, ‘What goes around comes around.’ It wasn’t a threat.”

Brewington claimed that the building code violations were so minor that no fine was levied, and that Wade had taken steps to correct them. He claimed that Wade was targeted, saying that on Aug. 20, immediately after his court appearance, Theofan had already drawn up papers seeking his resignation.

“So, it was your intent, sir, to file charges against Mr. Wade prior to the [Aug. 20] proceeding?” Brewington asked.

“That is correct,” Theofan said.

Brewington noted that several other city employees have faced more serious charges, including felony arrests. He asked Theofan whether those employees, who had taken oaths similar to Wade’s, had been removed. Theofan said that some of them might have been, but he could not recall specific personnel. One employee — a code enforcement officer who pleaded guilty to felony DWI charges and fighting in public several years ago — had been demoted, Theofan said, adding that he did not seek his termination.

McCabe is expected to deliver a ruling after both attorneys submit post-hearing arguments. Brewington said that if McCabe rules against his client, he may challenge the ruling in State Supreme Court.

“We’re going to allow Judge McCabe a fair opportunity to evaluate this record,” Brewington said. “We believe the record clearly shows that Mr. Wade did nothing wrong and should not be stripped of his commissionership.”

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