April 13, 2006
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now the sequal to the funny post ...and why I found that e-mail SOOO funny ... there is a family owned business in the town I used to live in - which was part of Islip .. I used to frequent the business which shall remain nameless for various reasons .. but I did need to go there on occasion and the owner was so friendly and funny and charming ..many times when I was there I saw the town supervisor in there ... a while later while talking on the phone with this person I did business with, while placing an order-we got around to the discussion of property taxes --- he told me that he was now on the town board of property assesment and sat in on meetings for zoning and the like... and he said to me .. well maybe you are not paying enough property taxes where you are ... you live near the water you have a huge home, my taxes were 14,000 a year for two thirds of an acre and a big home that was old .. and this 'assesment' coming from a man who played political footsie in the back room of his business in full customer view...and also had at least one illegal apartment that I knew of in his home, probably two and was not paying taxes on either . I know cause I saw it when I was there for his kids birthday party ...If I saw him today I would have three things to say .. Hows your buddy McGowan doing ? and Maybe you are next .. and then .. You never shit where you eat buddy ...
As for McGowan he seemed pleasant enough, he seemed to do good things for the town .. but I must say - that I would love to take an 11,000 trip to Ireland on campaign funds .. so if any of you want me to run for any kind of office -and donate money .. I will make sure I spend most of it on my campaign - but then earmark 2 million to massages, an all out trip to Glastonbury to see the tor.... perhaps Japan and Italy... dinners in THE most expensive restaurant in town .. manicures - pedicures - facials - gym memberships .. I would make sure that 2 million was spent so fast your head would spin
And then run for office many more times .. so that the money never stopped coming in ....Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz.......read on :
The crash of a town's titan
Islip supervisor resigns, faces prison after admitting kickbacks, misuse of campaign money
BY SANDRA PEDDIE
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Video: McGowan pleads guilty
STAFF WRITER
March 10, 2006
In a stunning fall from power, Islip Supervisor Pete McGowan -- once one of the most formidable politicians on Long Island -- ended his political career yesterday as he stood before a hushed courtroom and admitted taking kickbacks and using campaign funds to pay for such personal expenses as a trip to Ireland, gas for his boat, and more than $5,000 for spa treatments and facials.
In a court appearance before acting State Supreme Court Justice Michael Mullen in Riverhead, McGowan, 69, went from being the dominant Republican in Suffolk County to a convicted felon facing prison. Hours before his appearance, McGowan resigned from the supervisor's job he had held since 1993. He stood erect and spoke in a strong, confident voice, as he pleaded guilty to accepting $52,000 in bribes in the form of kickbacks from a campaign vendor and using campaign funds to pay more than $30,000 of his personal credit card bills.
Three of the charges -- grand larceny, commercial bribe receiving and offering a false instrument for filing -- are felonies.
The fourth charge, tampering with a witness, is a misdemeanor. It stems from an incident in December in which McGowan tried to intimidate the unidentified campaign vendor, who was secretly cooperating with the Suffolk County district attorney. McGowan admitted in court that he went to the vendor's home and told him to lie to investigators. The vendor was not named in court papers.
For a man of McGowan's stature, who rose from humble beginnings as the son of an Irish immigrant mother, his guilty pleas were more than just a personal disgrace. They also served as another blow to a once-dominant Republican Party in Islip and Suffolk County. A reminder of McGowan's political power is the concourse that bears his name at Long Island MacArthur Airport.
McGowan's sudden fall from power even struck Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota, who brought the case against him and said his probe in Islip was continuing. "These cases are very difficult, painstaking," he said after the hearing. "But it doesn't make any difference to us who they are."
The plea was the culmination of a 14-month investigation by the district attorney's governmental corruption unit. It requires that McGowan pay back contributors to his "Friends of Pete McGowan" campaign fund -- an unprecedented action taken by Spota. As part of the deal, McGowan agreed to forfeit his approximately $1.2-million campaign fund.
Prosecutors recommended 1 to 3 years in prison when he is sentenced May 4. McGowan has already paid about $50,000 in restitution and has $34,000 remaining.
McGowan's lavish spending on personal items, Spota said, "was almost like a yearlong Mardi Gras party." He spent thousands at East End restaurants, near his second home in East Quogue -- when he wasn't running for office -- and took trips with friends to Florida, where he also has a home. Prosecutors said the expenditures were not campaign related.
Although state law bars politicians from using their campaign funds for personal expenses, technicalities in the law make such abuses difficult to prosecute. Christopher McPartland, chief of the district attorney's governmental corruption bureau, said his investigators found tens of thousands of dollars more of questionable expenses paid by the campaign fund -- such as McGowan's $80,000 Mercedes-Benz -- that were not part of the charges.
McGowan declined to speak to reporters after the hearing, but his attorney, Raymond Perini, of Hauppauge, said, "It's a tough day. He's some guy, a tough guy. It's a terrible thing for a man who's done what he's done for this community to end his career in a criminal courtroom."
Spota, whose office has secured 17 convictions in its ongoing probe into political corruption, said he, too, found it to be a difficult day. "It's difficult to watch a person who has done so much good for the Town of Islip ... to end that career with such a fall from grace and with a felony conviction," he said.
Perini, asked what prompted McGowan to steal from his campaign fund, said, "Good people do stupid things."
Earlier in the morning, McGowan submitted a one-line resignation letter to the Islip town clerk, a move that ended his 13 years as one of the most powerful town supervisors on Long Island. Popular with town voters, he was feared by fellow Republicans because of his iron grip on the party and his strong-arm tactics against opponents.
Deputy Supervisor Jeanette Messina immediately became the acting supervisor. Messina, 66, of Holbrook, is also the town's parks commissioner and deputy chair of Islip's Republican Party. "This is a very sad day," she said. "I think we're all astounded."
Later yesterday, Messina, Town Attorney Pierce Cohalan and Republican town board members met in a hastily called caucus at town party headquarters in Bay Shore to determine what to do next.
The news of McGowan's plea reverberated throughout Long Island yesterday, as friends and foes tried to make sense of it. "It's 8.6 on the Richter scale," said Suffolk Democratic chairman Richard Schaffer, who had forged a working relationship with McGowan.
Republicans across the county were trying to assess the political fallout from the guilty pleas. "I just hope we've hit bottom ... " said Edwin "Buzz" Schwenk, former Suffolk Republican chairman, "because when you bottom out, the only place to go is up."
Former Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, who frequently dined with McGowan and whose wedding McGowan attended, said, "I have known Pete McGowan for more than a decade. I extend my deepest sympathy to his family and friends in what I am sure is a very troublesome time."
Spota stressed that his investigation was not over.
Asked if other Long Island politicians might now be looking over their shoulders because of concerns about their own campaign funds, he smiled and said, "You'll have to ask them."
Staff writers Rick Brand, John Valenti and J. Jioni Palmer contributed to this story.
Comments (2)
Props! Check back with me! I am so hyper now because I got a free ring tone my friend Crystal told me about lol I posted some info on it and hyperlinked it for you on my xanga for you. Have a good day and God bless you!
Someone needs to tell him that the facials aren't working. Thanks for your comments. It's good to have another side of the discussion. A friend of mine has had her life shortened by malpractice so I have an axe to grind perhaps.
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