O'DUMB'ETER: BETSY'S CAR $$
By MAGGIE HABERMAN, NY POST
LINK

November 2, 2006 -- Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum scrambled this week to reimburse the city for four years worth of personal use of her city car and driver, The Post has learned.

The ombudswoman's aides conceded yesterday that she only just repaid the city coffers roughly $2,500 for her drivers' hours, as well as gas mileage and tolls, for her entire first term - after the "Driving Mrs. Hevesi" scandal exploded in the headlines.

The admission came even though Gotbaum's aides had previously told The Post she forked over a check roughly every six months over the years to cover the costs for her trips, like to the Hamptons or to tony Kent, Conn., for weekend visits with friends, and to Costco in Queens.

Gotbaum, who sources say is considering a run for either mayor or city comptroller, wrote a $1,900 check three days ago "covering driver costs," like wages and benefits, for trips outside Manhattan for the years 2002 through 2005, according to the PA's spokesman, Frank Sobrino.

She wrote another check on Sept. 25 for $615.22, covering mileage and tolls over the same time period - four days after state Comptroller Alan Hevesi acknowledged he'd used a state worker to chauffeur his wife for three years.

"What she did now was square up" with the city, Sobrino said.

He would not answer questions about why she was making the payments now - or why aides had said months ago that she had been steadily reimbursing the office, and that she was not required to pay for drivers' costs at all.

"These payments are to compensate the city for the use of resources in predominantly non-government-related activities," he said of Gotbaum, who has two NYPD detectives assigned to her full time. "Our calculations for reimbursement are based on mileage, the cost of tolls and the assignment of a security package."

He said the driver's costs were tallied "by multiplying the cost of the driver's hourly wages and benefits by the number of hours worked outside the five boroughs."

He said the benefits were estimated at a rate of 25.7 percent of the driver's wages, and that she did not need to reimburse for personal time in the five boroughs because the NYPD has said she needs a full-time security detail.

But some political insiders couldn't believe that Gotbaum, who's been criticized for being too invisible in her five years in office, had claimed to be making payments all along.

"Does anyone know what she does all day?" sniped one insider, calling the situation a "disgrace." Strictly personal use of a city car is a no-no, officials say.

In August, after The Post made repeated inquiries, Gotbaum repaid her office $396.44 for mileage and tolls for the first six months of 2006 - nearly the entire amount she paid for the services for the previous years.

The only other repayment Gotbaum made in her first term was $881.07 for political trips during her 2005 re-election bid.

But privately, many political insiders said the overall $2,500 Gotbaum paid in the last four weeks seemed low, considering the number of social and personal events on her schedules this year, for which she used the city car to get to.

It seemed especially surprising that her August payment for six months of this year was almost as much as she's spent on mileage for the previous four years.

She made the August payment shortly after The Post filed a Freedom of Information request asking for her schedules, which were packed with social events, private lunches, strategy sessions and sit-downs with high-level City Hall commissioners - with few government initiatives to show for it.

Among the trips was a June weekend to education expert Diane Ravitch's home in the Hamptons. Gotbaum took the Jitney bus back.

Another was a Memorial Day weekend trip to visit friends in Kent, Conn., and using the car to pick her grandson up at the airport or to go to Costco over a weekend.

maggie.haberman@nypost.com

New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi Broke the Law to Chauffeur His Wife, State Ethics Committee Says

ANDY RIPS PIRRO 'STEALS' ON WHEELS
BY KENNETH LOVETT, NY Post Correspondent,
LINK

November 2, 2006 -- ALBANY - Andrew Cuomo yesterday called on former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro to return nearly $150,000 to the county to cover overtime expenses her driver incurred the last two years she was in office.

The Post reported yesterday that the driver, James O'Donnell, justified the $148,000 he made in extra pay in 2004 and 2005 by saying on his overtime claim forms that he missed meals while driving Pirro around, even when he incurred nine or more hours of OT.

Cuomo spokeswoman Wendy Katz questioned how Pirro can attack Democrat Alan Hevesi over his chauffeur problems when Pirro's driver incurred so much overtime that he became one of the county's highest-paid employees.

"If there is even a shred of integrity left in the Pirro campaign, Mrs. Pirro will immediately return the $148,000 she owes taxpayers, and explain why New Yorkers should believe her shameful, incredible grandstanding when she has yet to pay back a dime for her own taxpayer-expensed personal chauffeur," Katz said.

Pirro spokesman John Gallagher called the suggestion that Pirro return the money "absurd," and said it is Cuomo who should "return the more than $900,000 in taxpayer dollars he spent issuing promotional material to kick off his (2002) gubernatorial campaign when he was HUD secretary."

14 Department of Education Employees Have Cars With Police Sirens, Until Friday, February 20, 2004

LINK

Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Roman was caught by CBS TV crews speeding to work at the Office of Legal Affairs from her home in Riverdale, and using the police siren on her city-owned car.

The GOTHAMist:
Lights (and Sirens) Out for a Deputy Mayor

Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Roman, who advises Mayor Bloomberg on legal matters, had been abusing the lights and sirens on her cars to get to work faster, and after a local TV station reported this, they will now be stripped from her car. WCBS had been following Robles-Roman from Riverdale to her Manhattan offices, using the lights and sirens to drive onto the shoulder of the Henry Hudson Parkway. When the TV crew confronted her, Roble-Roman said, "I'm not a firefighter, and I'm not a police officer so I can't tell you I'm going to put out a fire."
The Post pointed out that the Mayor's office has a "no-siren policy" just to cut through traffic, and Mayor himself typically take the subway to work. But that is the beauty of living in Manhattan versus Riverdale.

CBS:

Feb 17, 2004 8:17 am US/Eastern
NEW YORK (CBS) Sirens and flashing lights atop a city official's car will be removed after CBS 2 recorded her improperly using them to beat traffic on her way to work.

Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Roman acknowledged last week that she had merely been driving to meetings when her chauffeur-driven sedan was taped rushing through traffic lights with its sirens screaming. The episode was recorded by CBS 2, which said Robles-Roman had similarly misused the equipment several times over the last few months.

When confronted by CBS 2's Marcia Kramer, all Robles-Roman could say was, "We're usually going to important meetings, different meetings, I'm not a firefighter and I'm not a police officer so I can't tell you I'm going to put out a fire."

Robles-Roman herself asked to have the sirens and lights removed from the car, said mayoral spokesman Ed Skyler.

The lights and sirens are meant for use only in true emergencies.

Free Republic:

Posted on 02/20/2004 3:21:23 PM PST by nuconvert
NYC Mayor Orders Lights, Sirens Removed From 250 Vehicles
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the lights and sirens removed from more than 250 city vehicles Friday after one of his deputy mayors was caught on video routinely and unnecessarily using the equipment on her official car. Only about 70 civilians in the Bloomberg administration, including the mayor and one of five deputy mayors, will be allowed to keep their lights and sirens.

A week ago, WCBS-TV aired videotape of Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Roman zipping from work to home in her official car, its lights flashing and siren blaring. Her chauffeur was shown driving on the shoulders of roads to avoid traffic.

Bloomberg ordered an inquiry into which officials truly need the equipment.

"The criteria the mayor used with commissioners was, 'Is this somebody that responds to emergencies as part of their job?'" spokesman Ed Skyler said.

Almost all department heads will lose their lights and sirens, including the schools chancellor, the finance commissioner and the parks commissioner. Among the few who will be allowed to keep the equipment is the sanitation commissioner.

Mayor Bloomberg quickly removed the emergency lights and sirens of more than 255 city officials, including Chancellor Joel Klein and 13 other Department of Education employees. Why did these 14 DOE employees believe that they needed this emergency equipment on their chauffeur-driven city-owned cars?

The New York Times quotes Mr. Hirsch, the medical examiner, as stating that he had used his lights and sirens only once in 15 years, to get to the scene of an airplane crash at La Guardia Airport. "It seemed to me if I had gotten there 10 minutes later, it wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference," he said.

Mr. Hirsch said he rejected the suggestion that it was a coveted status symbol. "If I needed that to define who I am, I better redefine my priorities," he said.

Isn't it far past the time when our education personnel need to redefine their priorities?

February 18, 2004
Mayor Says Out With Lights (Not to Mention the Sirens)
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER, NY TIMES

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that he would ask several people in his administration to relinquish the lights and sirens installed in their city-issued cars, after a news report that one of his deputy mayors frequently used hers for trips that were decidedly not emergencies.

'I have asked Martha Hirst, the commissioner for D.C.A.S., to give me a list of everybody that has lights and sirens, outside of the Police and Fire Department,' Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday at a news conference outside City Hall, referring to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the agency that manages the city's supplies and equipment.

'She sent me that list on Friday. I studied it over the weekend and I'm going to review it again,' Mr. Bloomberg said, 'as I did when I first came into office, to cut down the number of people who have lights and sirens in their cars. The trouble is when it's there, there is a temptation to use it. And it should only be there for an absolute emergency.'

Mr. Bloomberg's comments came after WCBS television reported that Mr. Bloomberg's deputy mayor for legal affairs, Carol A. Robles-Roman, frequently used her lights and sirens to move through traffic, often while going from her home in Riverdale to City Hall.

Ms. Robles-Roman, who does not drive and whose duties do not include responding to emergencies -- unlike other people on the mayor's staff -- told Mr. Bloomberg that she would like the lights and sirens removed, Mr. Bloomberg said, and he agreed.

He added that other officials, who ranged from Buildings Department inspectors to officials from the city's technology department, might also see their lights and sirens removed soon.

Almost every elected official, city commissioner and deputy mayor has a car with lights and sirens in its rear window, as do other city cars.

Shortly after taking office, Mayor Bloomberg's chief of staff, Peter L. Madonia, sent letters to the mayor's staff members, reminding them not to use their lights and sirens outside of emergency situations.

Asked at a news conference then what he would do to those who used them anyway, Mr. Bloomberg snapped:

'I don't know. We'll shoot them. What do you think is going to happen to them?'

The mayor said then he would lead by example; his police detail rarely hoots or toots its way through traffic, and he sometimes takes the subway anyway.

As such, he was angry with Ms. Robles-Roman, people who spoke with the mayor about the siren issue said.

There are 300 cars equipped with sirens and lights. In 2002, 30 were in the mayor's office.

That has been cut to 12. Over all, there were 80 cars in the mayor's office, a figure that has been cut to 47.

Yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg did not say specifically how many cars would have their lights and sirens removed.

'There are people on the list I've seen where it's hard to understand why they have to rush to get someplace in order to pass a piece of legislation or file a piece of paper or whatever,' Mr. Bloomberg said.

'There's nothing that's that critical other than a handful of people that must get to, for example, a building that's threatening to collapse.

'You can understand why a handful of people in the Building Department or D.O.T. if there's a real major problem that they might have to get to.'

There are City-wide Cut-backs for Education, But Raises for Mayor Bloomberg's Pals and Deputy Mayors

Couldn't DOE Employees With Private Cars and Sirens Have Funded Some New Bathrooms Instead?

Many of the City's public schools' bathrooms are unusable say parents, and kids are leaving the building to go to the bathroom elsewhere or holding it until later, after school.

At the same time, 14 Department of Education officials not only have private city-owned cars to take them to work at Tweed but also have police sirens and emergency lights to get them there 10 minutes faster, as Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Roman tried to do in February. A CBS camera crew caught her using her siren to get to New York City from her home in Riverdale, and then Mayor Bloomberg yanked the "perk" from 255 city "officials". 14 DOE "officials" including the Chancellor evidently felt it was their right to have this perk.

Why didn't these DOE employees donate the money from their cars/chauffeurs/sirens, and 'adopt' a bathroom?