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Law
Office of John J. Tormey III, Esq.
John
J. Tormey III, PLLC
1636
Third Avenue, PMB 188
New
York, NY 10128 USA
(212)
410-4142 (phone)
(212)
410-2380 (fax)
jtormey@optonline.net
https://www.tormey.org
Saturday,
July 20, 2024
VIA
U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
nysag@ag.ny.gov
Letitia
James, Attorney General
Office
of the New York State Attorney General
Attn:
Public Integrity Bureau, Criminal Justice Division
The
Capitol
Albany,
NY 12224-0341 USA
VIA
U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
anna.brower@ag.ny.gov
https://ag.ny.gov/environmental-protection-complaint-form
Anna
Brower, Chief Of Staff
Office
of the New York State Attorney General
Attn:
Public Integrity Bureau, Criminal Justice Division
The
Capitol
Albany,
NY 12224-0341 USA
VIA
U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
NYAG.Pressoffice@ag.ny.gov
Office
of the New York State Attorney General
Press
Office, The Capitol
Albany,
NY 12224-0341 USA
Re: Request For An Investigation Of
The Village Of Piermont, NY Government
Dear
Attorney General James, Chief of Staff Brower, and Colleagues:
Enclosed
with this letter as Exhibit A is a copy of the May 31, 2017 “Statement
Of Net Position” of the Village of Piermont, New York.
Enclosed
with this letter as Exhibit B is a copy of the May 31, 2023 “Statement
Of Net Position” of the Village of Piermont, New York.
My
understanding is that 2017’s Exhibit A was made available on the Village
of Piermont, New York Internet website. However, my further understanding is
that the Village of Piermont may have ceased making this type of financial
reporting available on its website circa 2020, and that therefore Exhibit B
needed to be extracted from Piermont government through FOIL recently.
It
is unfathomable that the government of a small village of approximately 2,500
residents with a positive Net Position of “US$834,138” in 2017, could have possibly run
that village into the ground in 6 short years to a Net Position of “(US$7,622,669)”
– that is, to a negative Net Position exceeding 7.6 million dollars in the
hole.
While
clearly, accounting conventions may have changed in that six-year period as
regards pension liabilities for example, the pension vector between 2017 and
2023 as reflected in the Exhibits still appears to be staggering. Moreover, it
appears that Piermont Village government deliberately changed the format of its
“Statement of Net Position” macro template from 2017 to 2023, as also reflected
in the Exhibits, perhaps in an attempt to shield Piermont Village Hall
defalcation. As for the timing, my understanding is that the first mayoral term
of current Village of Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker commenced at the beginning of
2018. His mayoral reign lines up almost perfectly with these two alarming
documents.
I
represent no client in this matter, although in recent months I have undertaken
to fight irresponsible real estate development and environmental practices by
the Village of Piermont government. Those harmful real estate development and
environmental practices may well be related to the Village’s underlying
financial distress reflected in the two Exhibits hereto. Though I know that it
should have no effect on any law enforcement investigation of potential
Piermont village government financial malfeasance, you should please be aware
that Mayor Bruce Tucker is a Democrat, and that the recently-departed head of
the Village of Piermont Planning Board is one Daniel Spitzer, brother of disgraced former
New York State Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
Mindful
that you will likely receive similar requests to investigate what is apparently
newly-discovered information regarding the Village of Piermont’s 2023 negative
“Net Position”, I respectfully request that you and your colleagues probe how a
small-town village government in New York could have possibly blown-through
that much by way of financial resources over a 6-year period, thereby putting
its unsuspecting village residents so deeply in the hole.
Thank
you for your careful consideration of this letter and its Exhibits.
Respectfully submitted,
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
