Who’s watching NY’s watchdogs?
ON THE waterfront in New York, a scathing report has accused a watchdog agency of itself being rife with corruption.
A report followed a two-year state investigation of the city agency responsible for monitoring port criminality, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.
The scathing, 60-page report by the state inspector general’s office accused top management at the panel of negligence and malfeasance ranging from “lackluster oversight of shipping companies to conflicts of interest and abrogation of legal responsibilities undermining the very purpose of the commission”.
Commissioners Michael Axelrod of New York and Michael Madonna of New Jersey and executive director Thomas De Maria were the main targets of the investigation.
They were also accused of improper hiring of workers and misuse of Department of Homeland Security federal grants.
The report noted “fundamental problems” with the commission’s system of licensing stevedoring companies and found that audits of licensing compliance 14 years behind schedule.
The director of audits conducted a private tax preparation business out of his office, the study found. Axelrod’s term expired and De Maria resigned while the inquiry took place, while Madonna was fired on 5 August.