Politics & Government

UPDATED: Dems Want Budget Officer Investigated

Politicians allege town budget officer Len Bernard was campaigning for supervisor using town equipment.

East Hampton Democrats are calling on the supervisor and the town ethics committee to investigate political and campaign activity conducted by town budget officer Len Bernard.

According to the release, the Democrats want the town to look into Bernard's activity conducted "on town time from his town office using the town computer system or on his town phone." They also called for a referral to the Suffolk County district attorney if town officials indeed find that Bernard conducted campaign work from his office at taxpayer expense.

The committee points to a series of emails that Bernard sent to member of the press. "Mr. Bernard is cataloged corresponding with the State Comptroller’s office and members of the press about his accusations regarding certain statements in Democratic campaign literature that he doesn’t agree with," the press release said.

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The State Comptroller sent Cohen a late last month regarding statements he had made in campaign literature.

The emails "suggest that Bernard uses his office and computer in Town Hall to send and receive campaign communications for the Wilkinson campaign," the statement said. They claim the budget officeer used the town computer to send emails to the state comptroller, the press and the supervisor claiming Cohen's campaign literature was false.

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On Monday afternoon, Bernard said he has a "fiduciary responsibility to the people of East Hampon Town." Pointing to emails he sent to the press last week, Bernard said he was keeping the Comptoller's office informed as had been requested by that office even before Cohen received the Democratic nomination.

On May 2, Bernard wrote to Ira McCracken, a chief examiner with that office, following up on some claims that had been made about the town's independent auditors.

"Did you or someone from your office send a letter to Zachary Cohen saying he was correct about one of the criticisms he made against Nawrocki-Smith and/or the town?," he asked. "Apparently he is telling various political party officials that he has a letter from the Comptroller acknowledging he was correct in some problem he pointed out to the Comptroller’s Office."

McCracken said, "We did not send Mr. Cohen any correspondences."

In the same email to Bernard, he wrote: "Please keep us updated regarding Mr. Cohen's assertions."

 

Bernard said that he was "absolutely not" acting in a political capacity, despite being a Republican. "I've worked for Democrats and Republicans. You do what's right. Especially now, the comptroller's looking over our shoulder on everything," he said.

"The facts are the facts. and as a financial analyst for the State Comptroller," said East Hampton Supervisor Bill Wilkinson. "We're the employer. What is unethical about that?"

Wilkinson added, "It doesn't matter who it was that brought it to the attention of the Comptroller; Len Bernard or John Q public."

Democratic Party Chair Jeanne Frankl said the issue gets to the heart of the campaign. “The budget office is being run by a political operative and not a financial professional with a non-partisan approach to managing the town’s finances. Mr. Bernard has used the influence of his official role as the town’s budget officer in an attempt to harm Zach Cohen’s campaign.”

Cohen did not immediately return a request for further comment.

The question of whether Bernard's actions were inappropriate was posed to the State Board of Elections' press office.


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