TRR photo by David Hulse Stephen Lungen

DA’s salary restored

By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO — With very little fuss and no debate, the Executive Committee of the Sullivan County Legislature on February 14 restored District Attorney Stephen Lungen’s $130,000 a year salary and added a $1,500 raise.

The vote was 5-4, with Rusty Pomeroy (D-3), Chris Cunningham (DC-1), Kathy LaBuda (D-2) and Jonathan Rouis (D-4) voting no. Leni Binder (D-7) provided the margin of victory, joining the legislature’s three Republicans and Robert Kunis (D-8), who last week voiced strong support for Lungen.

Lungen never did get to make his case to the legislature but he roasted them outside. After the vote, he told the gathered media in the hall that his salary “had been cut in a way to hide it from me and those who would have supported me.” He called the process “backhanded… I worry what could be done to someone else who doesn’t have the kind of visibility I have,” he said.

Lungen said he was “embarrassed” by the treatment he was given, but would not carry bad feelings. “I’m not one to hold a grudge,” he said.

He said the whole thing had every “appearance of being personal…Why did they single me out?” he asked.

The stated rationale for the reduction was to level the DA’s salary with the county court judge, but Lungen said the action had “nothing to do with parity. It had to do with process, not money,” he said.

“It was never about Steve,” Pomeroy said. “If there was a mistake made, it was in ’97, paying him more than the judges.

Pomeroy insisted that salary parity was the issue. “That’s state law. Salary is salary. Other compensations differ,” he admitted.

As to some of his colleagues’ complaints that they were unaware of the provision when they voted, “I can’t say what others know. If they didn’t know, they should have. It’s always a good idea to know what you’re voting on,” he said.

LaBuda said she would make a formal comment at the February 21 legislative meeting, but that her position hasn’t changed. “We’ve got probation officers, people in the clerks office, sheriff’s deputies that we can’t give a $2,000 raise, and yet the highest paid county official gets a $4,500 raise?” she asked.

“This should never be political and personal and that’s what this has become… and who made it personal? He called me vindictive,” she said.

“This was supposed to be a simple salary adjustment and it turned into the Civil War. It’s too bad,” LaBuda concluded.