Originally Posted - November 30, 2005

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Larry Cleveland became the sheriff of Warren County when the previous sheriff, Fred Lamy, was appointed to the state Commission on Corrections by Gov. George Pataki.

However, the word circulating is that there won't be any state job for Cleveland.

In fact, he may have yet another contentious challenge for the office in 2007 if he chooses to seek reelection.

Word on the grapevine is that Cleveland angered Gov. Pataki during the press conference in October concerning the Ethan Allen boating tragedy on Lake George when 20 senior citizens were killed.

Not only is there ongoing flap about Cleveland's failure to test the boat's operator, a former state trooper, for alcohol or drugs but it seems that Cleveland just wouldn't shut up and allow the Governor to speak.

And that's a political no-no.

Then there's the reported federal sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by two women in the department who claim that Larry has discriminated against them in promotions, passing over them in appointments to supervisory positions even though they scored the highest on civil service tests and were the most qualified.

Take a look at the Warren County Sheriff's Department with its' multi-million dollar budget and hundreds of employees. How many women sergeants are there? How many female lieutenants? How many women investigators? Division commanders?

Cleveland's position about women has long been known.

Cleveland has also obligated Warren County to a significant federal civil rights suit in the matter of the North Country publisher whose cases Cleveland brought as his own personal vendetta have been dismissed for multiple violations of constitutional rights.

Perhaps the most damaging to Cleveland is the state audit of the civil and corrections divisions of the sheriff's department, released in October, which found that Cleveland improperly used nearly $165,000 of telephone commissions from the county jail's pay phones for inmates to furnish his own office in the new Public Safety building without formal approval by the board of supervisors, in non-conformance with the county's adopted budgeted, purchasing and accounting procedures. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/2005/counties/warren.htm

The state comptroller's office said that Cleveland improperly used the telephone commission money and circumvented a system of controls in place to prevent such unauthorized spending.

Auditors said that there was no legal authority for Cleveland to use the commission moneys as he did.

Golly gee, almost sounds like a misappropriation of public funds, doesn't it? Would criminal charges be appropriate for Larry Cleveland?

Could Gov. Pataki remove Cleveland from office for such a misuse of public funds as documented by the state comptroller's office? Perhaps the matter should be submitted to the state Commission of Investigation (SIC) for further investigation of Cleveland and the sheriff's department---especially his handling of the money.

Cleveland could find himself in a real pickle if he's irked Gov. Pataki and come 2006, if Democrat Eliot Spitzer is elected Governor, we'd say Larry could kiss goodbye any plans that he might have had for a state job.

In the handling of moneys from telephone commissions from pay phones in the jail, the state noted that the county contracted with a communications vendor covering the installation of inmate telephones and the operation of inmate telephone service at the county correctional facility. Pursuant to that agreement, the county received monthly commission payments based on a percentage of designated calls placed from inmate telephone at the county locations. Commission income ranged from approximately $40,000 to $50,000 per year.

Initially, the sheriff's account clerks deposited commissions into the commissary account where they were used in the same manner as commissary fund profits for inmate related purposes in accordance with State Commission of Correction regulations (former Sheriff Lamy is one of three commissioners with the state COC). The auditors said that county officials had told them that five years ago, the department began depositing telephone commissions into a separate departmental bank account apart from the commissary fund. These moneys were used for other law enforcement purposes, they said, because, unlike commissary fund revenues, there were no specific mandated guidelines governing the use of moneys the inmate telephone service generated. The department retained custody of the moneys and did not remit them to the county treasurer where they could have been recorded in the county's general accounting records.

In 2004, the department spent $164,193 in telephone commission bank account moneys to furnish the sheriff's office in a newly constructed facility that became home to virtually all of the department's divisions.

"Furthermore, the purchases were discussed by the sheriff's committee of the board of supervisors. However, there was no formal budgeting for the use of these funds in the county's adopted budget. Neither the receipt nor expenditure of the moneys was processed in conformance with the county's adopted budgeting, purchasing and accounting procedures".

No expenditure may be made without a budget appropriation and claims against the county must be audited and approved before they're paid. 'We are not aware of any statute that would authorize a sheriff to establish a separate account for, and maintain custody of, income from inmate telephones. The commissary fund is specifically established to hold and account for the profits from the commissary sales, the comptroller's office said.

Was there intent on the part of Cleveland to circumvent the process? We don't believe it was any mistake on the part of Cleveland but rather planned and deliberate. This time he got caught------and it's about time.

It appears that Cleveland's power play in Warren County may be running out of steam and fizzling out. You can only fool the people for so long. 11-30-05

© 2005 North Country Gazette