Hennessy Files Ethics Complaint Against Council Members

Former City Council President Jim Hennessy filed an ethics complaint against members of the City Council, claiming that they accepted free legal service from a law firm and later voted to approve a contract between the firm and the city.

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Hennessy, a spokesman for Long Beach’s Republican Party, filed his complaint to the Long Beach Board of Ethics and Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice on Monday. In his letter, he claims that current council members Len Torres, Scott Mandel and Fran Adelson and former councilman Michael Fagen, all Democrats, filed for an injunction to try to stop a former police commissioner, Thomas Sofield Sr., from receiving $500,000 retirement payout in 2011, and they were represented by Harris Beach, a Uniondale law firm, as a free gift of service valued at $10,000 that they failed to disclose.

“It appears that in December 2011 and January 2012 Scott Mandel, Fran Adelson, and Len Torres obtained free legal representation from Harris Beach, a politically connected law firm, and they failed to disclose the gift of services to proper authorities,” Hennessy said in a statement about his filing.

Hennessy further alleges that Torres, Mandel and Adelson in February 2012 voted to hire Harris Beach to form the city’s local development corporation, which he claims is a gift that also violates the city’s ethics code.

While Mandel, the council's president, called the allegations a “distraction,” and City Manager Jack Schnirman said that Harris Beach was chosen for their experience in setting up local development corporations, Long Beach Democratic Chairman Michael Zapson said Hennessy’s charges were “completely without merit” and “ridiculous,” according to Newsday, which reported that Harris Beach did not return a call for comment Monday.

Hennessy’s letter asks the ethics boards and district attorney also investigate the conduct of Fagen, who was convicted in February on charged that he illegally collected unemployment benefits and resign from the council.