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BREAKING: Why Is Maureen O'Connell Hiding An Audit Of Her Office?

by: phillip anderson

Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 04:15:00 AM EST

It looks like Maureen O'Connell, the Republican candidate for state Senate in the 7th District special election would be a perfect fit for Joe Bruno's caucus. She's already proven adept at at avoiding the public's scrutiny and now she can add suppression of less than favorable evaluations of her performance to her sad resume'. She can even do so whilst accusing others of "partisanship". No wonder Bruno wants her so bad. They are birds of a feather.

Maureen O'Connell, the Nassau County Clerk, recently received an audit courtesy of Howard Weitzman, the Nassau County Comptroller and current New York Comptroller hopeful. She received this audit, which was many months in the making on January 12th. Her office has yet to respond because the staffer who apparently would do so is conveniently on leave until, ya know, after the election. For more, let's go to Newsday

Audit could cast negative light on Senate hopeful

With a week left before the special election in the 7th State Senate District, candidate Maureen O'Connell is feuding with Nassau Comptroller Howard Weitzman over the possible release of an audit that is said to shine a negative light on O'Connell's leadership in the county clerk's office.

After many stops and starts over the past year, Weitzman, a Democrat who is vying to become the state comptroller, completed the audit on Jan. 12. Following protocol, Weitzman said he went to O'Connell, a Republican, for a response. He said that she replied that her office would be unable to comment because an employee who is needed to address questions is on family leave through next month.

O'Connell, who is running against Nassau Legis. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington), said Weitzman is motivated by partisanship and noted that he was lobbying state lawmakers to back his bid for state comptroller. Weitzman has remained neutral in the Senate race.

"He'll say and do anything to advance his career," O'Connell said on Friday. "The release of ... any comment from Howard is extremely political."

MUCH more after the jump...

This audit didn't happen overnight. It took months, yet Maureen O'Connell is crying foul. It must be Howard seeking to get the Comptroller's job.

There's a common term for such arguments, "bullshit".

If anyone is playing "politics" with this audit, it's Maureen. She has had the thing for almost three weeks and yet she refuses to respond to it or even release it's contents. She is a public servant. Howard Weitzman is a public servant. We pay both of their salaries. That audit is public record and yet she continues to stonewall. Much like last week's "debate", she is trying her best to avoid public scrutiny and to run out the clock in her bid to become Joe Bruno's newest sycophant.

This is not acceptable.

More from Newsday:

The audit's contents are unclear but sources in both political parties who are familiar with the audit say it criticizes some of O'Connell's management abilities.

The sources also say O'Connell has delayed the report for months by claiming that staffers were not available to answer questions related to the audit. In addition, O'Connell said Weitzman's requests to question members of her team would have caused the office to shut down periodically.

Since she took office in January 2006, O'Connell has touted her accomplishments. "I've turned an office around in 12 months that had accumulated a 15-year backlog," she said. "We've brought the office into the 21st century and my staff has done a superb job."

Allen Morrison, Weitzman's spokesman, would not say whether he would release the audit without a response. "We gave a copy of the report to the clerk's office to give them an opportunity to review the findings, in keeping with our standard practice," Morrison said.

Maureen O'Connell is running on her record, yet she refuses to allow her own constituents any fair evaluation of that record.

This just begs the question: "What is she hiding?"