Attorney takes aim at Sullivan

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

MONTICELLO, NY — Instead of angling to prove Phil Nicoletti’s innocence, attorney Jonathan Lovett turned the tables on Sullivan County as he called several high-ranking officials to the stand on September 28.

Lovett accused county legislators of consenting to a double standard when they charged Nicoletti with misconduct earlier this year. According to Lovett, legislators were aware of other county employees’ misdeeds, but did nothing about them.

The September 28 session of the civil disciplinary hearing presented the coda in Lovett’s defense of Nicoletti, the Department of Public Works (DPW) deputy commissioner who was suspended in the wake of the county’s investigation into corruption.

With Kathy LaBuda on the stand, Lovett asked the six-year legislator whether she knew her brother, Desi Wisniski, was conducting a sexual affair on county time. Wisniski, DPW’s superintendent of buildings and grounds, has not been charged.

LaBuda said she first learned about the alleged affair in March when DPW managers met her in Bloomingburg and threatened to tell the press about Wisniski unless LaBuda committed to securing their jobs, which were then, and continue to be, threatened by the corruption probe. “Before that, I didn’t know about it,” LaBuda said.

“I met with the county manager several days later concerning my brother,” she said.

LaBuda said former County Manager Dan Briggs said he had heard about the affair but didn’t know if it was in fact taking place on county time.

In previous testimony, Peter Lilholt, the former DPW commissioner who resigned because of the investigation, confirmed that the meeting in Bloomingburg took place. Lilholt was called to the stand last week but would say nothing because District Attorney Stephen Lungen indicted both Nicoletti and Lilholt on September 15 for criminal charges of larceny, fraud and misconduct.

Lovett asked LaBuda whether she asked Wisniski about the affair.

“Yes. He said that what he does after 5:00 is his business,” LaBuda said. “He said no, he was not” having an affair on county time, she said.

With Briggs on the stand, Lovett asked him whether LaBuda told him that her brother was “engaged in activities [that had] nothing to do with the county.” Briggs said: “She discussed with me her brother’s potential involvement.” Briggs was the county manager from September 2000 until August 31 of this year, when a majority of legislators voted to dismiss him, in part because of the investigation.

During a break in the proceedings, Michael Wittenberg, the labor and relations consultant hearing the case, said he is not interested in hearing information from witnesses that merely disparages people.

“It messes my record up,” Wittenberg said. “But if they show in fact that the county manager knew of these events and charged Nicoletti and not so-and-so, that’s what I’m interested in.”

Lovett also strove to show that legislators determined Nicoletti’s fate before the civil disciplinary hearing began in June.

Briggs told Lovett that legislators had decided, during steering committee meetings, that Nicoletti and suspended DPW Parks and Recreation Director Richard Caraluzzo would be fired as a result of the county’s charges of misconduct. Briggs named Legislature Chairman Chris Cunningham, LaBuda, Rodney Gaebel and Jonathan Rouis as members of the steering committee.

“They determined the punishment before the charges were ever filed,” Lovett said during a break. “This whole thing is a sham.”

The purpose of the steering committee, Briggs said, is for members to discuss day-to-day matters. Then, they take the information to their legislative colleagues during party caucuses, he said.

“It was pretty consistent that termination should be the result,” Briggs said.

Lovett asked if minutes are ever taken during these steering committee meetings.

“Typically not,” Briggs said.

Lovett called Cunningham to the stand and asked whether other legislators had agreed with the decision to move forward with Nicoletti’s termination.

“I don’t recall anyone disagreeing,” Cunningham said. “No one indicated disagreement.”

Wittenberg said that once the hearing concludes, he would take about two weeks to recommend disciplinary action to the county Legislature.