Colonie Emergency Medical Services Chief Jonathan Politis and Deputy Chief Peter Berry have submitted a complaint to the Town of Colonie Board of Ethics alleging town officials abused the power of their offices by conducting a `surprise raid` of the EMS LifeGuard program.
The Spotlight obtained a copy of the complaint dated Monday, Jan. 5, which states that Supervisor Paula Mahan, Town Attorney Michael Magguili and Director of Operation Peter Gannon `have misused public funds for purposes of political and personal retribution.`
Politis confirmed the complaint was filed Wednesday, Jan. 7, and said, `We’re hoping the Town Board and Town Ethics Committee take action against what was written in the complaint.`
He declined to comment further.
According to the complaint, the harassment stems from the 2004 disciplinary actions Politis and Berry took against former EMS workers Hugh Skerker and William Gardner. The two had their private e-mails subpoenaed by the previous administration after they had filed numerous complaints about Politis and the EMS department with then-Supervisor Mary Brizzell.
The complaint states, `During [Mahan’s] campaign, Skerker and Gardner openly supported Mahan for her bid for office and made it publicly known they had an axe to grind against Politis and Berry because of the previous disciplinary action.`
After Mahan won the election and took office, her administration began looking into the costs of maintaining the EMS LifeGuard Air Rescue Program, a program that brings together the Colonie EMS department and New York State Police on helicopter flight rescue missions.
The complaint describes Magguilli’s inquiring about the programs’ savings to Politis in early 2008.
`On or about Feb. 11, 2008, Mahan and Magguilli and Director of Operations Peter Gannon made a surprise ‘raid’ at the NYS Police Aviation demanding to see equipment,` the statement said. It went on to describe a conversation between Mahan and Politis days before the incident in which the complaint states that Mahan ended her conversation, `by issuing a threat to Politis that, ‘She was going to handle [me] in another way.’`
The complaint also states that `on or about Feb. 27, 2008, it was reported to Politis that Mahan plans to get rid of Politis/Berry for what they ‘did’ to Skerker/Gardner.`
When asked about the allegations in the complaint, Gannon said that because the information was supposed to be confidential, he would not be commenting on behalf of himself or Mahan.
Gannon also said that the fact the media had copies of the complaint, `leads me to suspect that there’s something more afoot here than anybody here at Town Hall’s ethical standards.`
The complaint also alleges that a part-time EMS employee had been contacted by Magguilli and threatened about helping the United Public Service Employees Union, the union defending LifeGuard, which is currently be audited as the town looks at the costs of maintaining its relationship with the air rescue program.
`Magguilli told them he would file a complaint against them and report them to their superiors if they didn’t stop assisting the union,` according to the document.
The complaint also states that, `We believe this targeting is intentional and is being done to force us to resign our positions so Mahan and Magguilli can accomplish their mission to ‘get’ us. This is a blatant abuse of a public official’s power and a misuse of taxpayer dollars. The effort Mahan and Magguilli has put into harassing us has been intense and costly.`
Magguilli said he had not yet seen the complaint, and that he was surprised The Spotlight had obtained a copy.
`These things are supposed to be confidential,` he said. `Even if I did see it I wouldn’t be able to comment on it.`
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