Investigation of Sustainable Westchester Expands to Cover 16 Government Officials
Government officials in White Plains, Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Rye, Bedford, North Salem, Town of Rye, Town of Mamaroneck, Port Chester, Westchester and the NYS Assembly under scrutiny.
DUBLIN, IRELAND (February 19, 2024) — Occasionally, I share with paid subscribers a behind-the-scenes look at the process of reporting out my stories. With the news that New Rochelle cut ties with Sustainable Westchester, some are wondering what’s next on that?
Plenty.
I began pursuing the Sustainable Westchester story last September. My initial focus was on New Rochelle: former Mayor Noam Bramson and Council Member Sara Kaye. Bramson left office under a cloud for previous ethics violations related to his illegal attempts to pressure the City Manager of New Rochelle to appoint him Development Commissioner. He left New Rochelle government to become Executive Director of Sustainable Westchester.
It was obvious the pair broke the law but proving that required a lot of work. It paid off when the New Rochelle Board of Ethics agreed. They sustained my allegations and declared all contracts with Sustainable Westchester null and void. In its ruling, the Board of Ethics left it up to the administration on how to act on the contracts. I have been waiting for months for a decision, which has now happened.
An agenda packet for Tuesday’s city council meeting, made public on Friday, revealed that the city obtained a legal opinion and, based on that opinion, has allowed all but one contract to expire (happily, the Sustainable Westchester employee working in the Mayor’s Office at taxpayer expense is now gone). That last contract will be renewed briefly, so residents can get new energy providers — that is what will be discussed February 20.
Sara Kaye, as well as Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert, are barred from participating in any Sustainable Westchester discussion and votes. Sara is barred because she remains on the Board of Directors of Sustainable Westchester. Yadira is barred because of what I learned in pushing back on Sara’s stonewalling of my FOIL requests for her emails, in particular involving her husband’s law firm.
DA Needs to Examine Stonewalling on Noam Bramson, Sara Kaye Emails
In response to a follow-up FOIL, I unexpectedly received emails to and from Sara Kaye / Sustainable Westchester showing Yadira agreed to be a voting member of the Sustainable Westchester Annual Members Meeting last Wednesday, February 14. So, she too is also barred from participating in any Sustainable Westchester discussions and votes.
I will be watching Tuesday with great interest to see them forced to recuse themselves and leave the room.
With New Rochelle done, I have now expanded my investigation to cover every Sustainable Westchester board member. The successful investigation of corrupt elected officials in New Rochelle offers a model for investigating elected officials throughout Westchester County who serve or have served on the Sustainable Westchester board: did they report their interest in Sustainable Westchester on their annual disclosure forms and, if they have a voting role, did they properly recuse themselves?
I kicked off this expanded investigation over the weekend by identifying targets — an interesting list, as paid subscribers will now see below…
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