Nassau comptroller to conduct nepotism audit

<p>Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman announced Tuesday that his office will conduct a nepotism audit of all union and non-union county jobs.</p>

News 12 Staff

Apr 10, 2018, 10:48 PM

Updated 2,432 days ago

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Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman announced Tuesday that his office will conduct a nepotism audit of all union and non-union county jobs.
Schnirman pointed to the current federal corruption trial of former Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano and a Newsday report from October that outlined the many politicians who have family members in local government.
“We're going to examine hiring practices, including civil service test practices. We're going to determine if employees are supervising family members, and how [that] situation can be allowed to happen in the first place,” said Schnirman.
Schnirman said the audit is about more than looking at payroll documents and searching for familiar names. He says it’s not about who was hired, but how they were hired.
Fellow Democrat Nassau County Executive Laura Curran says she backs the audit.
Rich Nicolello, the leading Republican in the County Legislature, expressed some concerns, saying, "If he's doing it from a good government standpoint, then it could be beneficial, but if he's going about it with partisan ends in mind, then it won't and will benefit no one."
Nassau Republican Party Chairman Joseph Mondello declined to comment on the audit. A spokesperson for Jay Jacobs told News 12 that the Democratic Party chairman was unavailable for comment.
Schnirman says the audit's initial findings will be released in six to nine months, but could take at least a year to complete.