| One of the targets of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has been private lawyers and law firms that represent public schools and municipalities and then sign on with the state pension system.
Last week, Cuomo received settlements from one law firm's enrollment in the state pension system and from a lawyer who was enrolled in the pension system also. DiNapoli has done similar things and removed these lawyers from the pension system and has worked well with Cuomo on this large endeavor.
But now, some lawyers want to sue.
The lawsuit will likely be filed later this week in state Supreme Court in Albany County and will seek restraining orders against Cuomo and DiNapoli, said lawyer James Roemer, who specializes in public sector employment issues.
While he wouldn't immediately divulge details of his legal strategy or name the initial plaintiffs, Roemer said he's representing four individuals from Long Island who have lost pension credits during the past few weeks.
Roemer said he believes thousands of lawyers could potentially join the suit, given the many private attorneys who work for government entities, including towns and villages, school boards and utility districts, and who have enrolled in the state pension system. Cuomo and DiNapoli say lawyers in private practice generally shouldn't get public pensions.
Why would Roemer care so much about this?
But Roemer, 63, who himself draws a six-figure pension for his work for a number of Capital Region municipalities, contends that the pensions are justified.
"For 70 years plus, this has been authorized," Roemer said, explaining that no one from the comptroller or other office had questioned the practice until now.
Cuomo and DiNapoli are doing the right thing. If a municipality or school district wants to hire a lawyer full-time, that lawyer should give up private practice and then declare him or herself as a public employee. But in these instances, we are seeing private sector lawyers asked to take care of a municipality's or school district's legal work and they contract it out to these lawyerrs. Thus, the lawyers aren't really full-time employees of said municipality or school district. They should not be receiving benefits.
And when the lawyer who is starting this lawsuit is himself a recipient of a large state pension because of his work with municipalities, you have to question the motive for this lawsuit. |
