By Dana Klosner
In a recent telephone interview, Suffolk County Legislator John M. Kennedy, the Republican candidate for the Suffolk County Comptroller’s office, answered allegations that he skirted the nepotism law when he hired his wife as a legislative aide and failed to file a sworn statement disclosing that he had hired a relative after he first took her on in 2007.
Legislator John M. KennedySupporters of his opponent, Democratic candidate James Gaughran, chairman of the Suffolk County Water Authority, have sent out mailings and automated telephone calls to voters attacking Kennedy over pay increases he gave his wife, Leslie Kennedy that raised her salary by a total of $50,000 and for personally signing his wife’s time sheets, as reported in Newsday.
“No one is circumventing or bypassing the rule of law,” Kennedy said. “Ordinary hiring doesn’t require resolution. In this case, so that there would be no appearance of impropriety there was a resolution, publication and a public hearing. There is nothing untoward, illegal or improper about this. There was simple compliance with the provision of the administrative code.”
When the question was raised whether or not Kennedy would hire his wife if he won the Comptroller’s race he simply said that she has no interest in having any position in the Comptroller’s office. That is not something that is of her skill set or interest regarding work.
When asked if he sees this as a perversion of the nepotism law. He said, “Not at all. There is nothing contorted. It isn’t improper, illegal or anything outside of conformance. There have been many legislators that have had siblings, children or other folks that have worked in their office. What this really gets at is demeaning or turning a blind eye to the role of the job of an individual as a legislative aide which is a wide and diverse role, and as a matter of fact ultimately the focus should be on if the individual is good at what he or she does regardless of family or marital status.”
“I think that people should trust individuals who are in particular positions be it my political party or any other political party,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t get elected just to represent Republicans I got elected to represent 83,000 individuals. I don’t ask somebody when they call my office, what their registration is. I worked on a consistent basis across the board with folks in the Democratic Party. I spent the better part of eight years defending John J. Foley. I worked with Kate Browning and I worked with John J. Schneiderman who is of the Independent Party. I work on behalf of every resident whether they are a registered voter or not. That has nothing to do with what I do day in and day out.”
Questioned about overtime Kennedy says his wife does not get overtime.
“This is an issue that was raised by my opponent that is not just a misperception it’s an outright lie and quite frankly demonstrates how truly little my opponent knows about basic categories of employees in municipal employment,” Kennedy said. “It demonstrates how poorly qualified he is to be Comptroller. By definition an exempt employee cannot get overtime. He chooses to ignore that fact and has sent 18 mailers saying get’s gotten overtime. He intentionally and with malice is lying. She’s paid 35 hours a week.”
“It is sad that this is the only thing that there is to talk about in a race for a county wide office for chief fiscal officer where I bring 39 years of dedicated public service, a Masters in Business Administration, a Juries Doctorate from St. John’s, ten years of hard work and advocacy on the behalf of a legislative district,” Kennedy continued.
At the end of the conversation Kennedy expressed his frustration that important issues were not being addressed. “It appears the only thing that’s of any substance is that my wife is in my legislative office. That’s sad. That’s truly sad.”