County fires back
at critic

Conflict of interest
charged in school decision

By DAVID HULSE

ELDRED, NY — One Sullivan County legislator is charging that attorney Andrew Boyar had a conflict of interest when he argued earlier this month against the Eldred Central School Board of Education’s adopting a resolution of concern about new casino-related costs.

When the school board voted down a proposed resolution opposing casino projects that fail to mitigate new local costs, Boyar abstained after leading an animated attack on the proposal. He also was critical of the projected figures for new program costs, which the district’s business manager Dan Grecco had presented, based on countywide estimates. Boyar called them “bogus, phantom numbers,” and said the county was trying to use the schools as a tool in its own casino negotiations.

In a statement to The River Reporter, Casino Committee chair Robert Kunis (R-8) charged that Boyar’s remarks were “self serving and unfair to the school district he supposedly serves… because he represents one of the tribes. In fact, he met with county legislators a short time ago specifically on Indian gaming issues. Mr. Boyar had an obligation to disclose his role and recuse himself from the discussion and any ensuing vote.”

This past weekend Boyar neither denied nor confirmed an association.

“Who my clients are is no one else’s business,” he said. But he went on to add that he was not under retainer or on anyone’s payroll regarding any Indian casino proposal.

But County Attorney Ira Cohen said Boyar met with him and legislative chair Leni Binder early this spring and identified himself as a representative for the New York State Oneidas.

“I think it was an oversight on his part not to have revealed that to his colleagues on the board of education,” Cohen said.

Boyar confirmed that he had met with Binder and Cohen and discussed gaming issues, as well as other county policies.

Boyar, who was the last chairman of the Board of Supervisors, which preceded the creation of the legislature, said he was critical of the legislature’s recent decision to increase the county sales tax as well as its continuing reliance on landfill revenues.

“I’m retired from politics, but the way they’re handling it…I doubt that we’ll ever see a casino here,” he said.

Responding to questions about the validity of the county’s numbers, Sullivan County BOCES Superintendent Martin Handler said he thought county estimates of new costs were conservative. “It’s possible that new costs could be considerably higher than the county is projecting,” he said.

County officials, who have negotiated two agreements with prospective tribal operators of casinos for $15 million each, recently have been concerned that a third proposal, that of the Cayuga Nation at Monticello Raceway is based on a $5 million host benefit. County officials say compromising with the Cayuga’s for a lesser “host community benefit” payment will void the earlier agreements.

County officials have also repeatedly expressed concern that the Oneidas, who have the largest and most advanced of pending tribal land restoration claims in the state, have an inside negotiating track with Governor Pataki that might bypass local agreements.

The Oneidas were the first tribe to express interest in Sullivan County in 1994, but they later withdrew from an agreement for a planned casino at the Monticello Raceway.