Unhand Piermont!: Hoisted By His Own Petard.

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)
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https://www.tormey.org

Friday, December 6, 2024

VIA U.S. MAIL, FAX: 1-845-425-4617, and E-MAIL:
weber@nysenate.gov
New York State Senator Bill Weber (R - 38^th Senate District)
Rockland County District Office
163 Airport Executive Park
Nanuet, New York 10954 USA

Re:
The Current “Risk Assessment” Of The Village Of Piermont NY, By The NYS Comptroller’s Office
The Apparent Possible Disappearance Of US$3,200,000+ In Public Funds In The Lower Hudson Valley

Dear State Senator Weber:

Further to my prior letter to you and your NYS Senate colleagues regarding the Village of Piermont, New York dated July 21, 2024, I have updated information about Piermont for your review. In my opinion, these new items, taken together, may signify a possible and yet-unexplained disappearance of US$3,200,000+ in public funds, once managed by the Village of Piermont New York government and its current Mayor, one Bruce Edward Tucker, an infamous former garment industry sheet and towel wholesaler out of Elizabeth, New Jersey:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2024/11/piermont-mayor-bruce-tucker-and-rainbow.html

1. Piermont Village Government And Bruce Tucker Are Currently Operating Under OSC “Risk Assessment”. As you may already be aware, Mayor Bruce Tucker and Piermont village government are operating under a current “Risk Assessment” by the Office of the New York State Comptroller (OSC), now managed by an OSC Audit Manager:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2024/11/newsflash-office-of-new-york-state.html
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2024/11/bruce-tucker-of-whole-cloth.html
During his mayoral reign, Mayor Bruce Tucker and Piermont government appear to have spent unsuspecting Piermont village residents into a negative US$7,600,000 “Net Position” deficit while concealing financials from the Village’s website for approximately four years. Mayor Bruce Tucker and the Village of Piermont then failed to timely furnish financial information to OSC for inclusion in OSC’s Fiscal Stress Monitoring System, even after an extended deadline - thereby permanently preventing inclusion therein:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2024/07/he-spent-it.html
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2024/07/that-time-when-bruce-tucker-sandbagged.html

2. Mayor Tucker Bragged About Piermont’s Financial Condition In An April 2024 Meeting. In an April 16, 2024 Village of Piermont Board of Trustees public meeting, while engaging in what appears to have been false braggadocio about the Village’s financial condition, Mayor Bruce Tucker stated that the Village maintained a surplus of US$3,200,000+ million dollars as an “unassigned Fund Balance”:
See “Incorporated Village or Piermont, Board of Trustees Meeting”, April 16, 2024 Minutes, Page 4 of 8, at:
https://cms9files1.revize.com/piermont/document_center/Agendas%20&%20Minutes/2024/Minutes/BOT%20Meeting%20Minutes%20April%2016%202024.pdf
Yet in that same meeting Mayor Tucker shiftily refused to convey the bulk of that fund balance back to Piermont taxpayers who were just hit with a 6.9% tax increase:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2024/08/watch-as-mayor-bruce-tucker-blows-away.html

3. Mayor Tucker Also Bragged About Piermont’s Financial Condition To A Local Rag. Mayor Bruce Tucker repeated the same boastful claim in a subsequent interview with the Rockland County Business Journal (“RCBJ”), a local blogged website notorious for running mouthpiece items for Rockland County public officials:
https://rcbizjournal.com/2024/07/30/piermont-mayor-bruce-tucker-talks-about-controversy-engulfing-his-village/

4. Mayor Tucker And Piermont Government Now Appear To Plead Poverty. Faced more recently with the reality of the imminent collapse of, and needed repair or replacement of, the tip of the historic, iconic, and well-beloved Piermont Pier, Mayor Tucker and Piermont Village Hall are now, in effect, pleading poverty. Press reports indicate that the Piermont Village Board is “investigating the possibility of potential [g]rants[emphasis added] that may be available to replace” the crumbling Piermont Pier section:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2024/11/attention-piermont-residents-your-mayor.html
Moreover, Mayor Bruce Tucker himself was quoted in this November 29, 2024 LoHud/Journal News article as pathetically begging for money to replace the crumbling Pier tip. Said Mayor Tucker:

“The Village Board was working on obtaining cost quotes to replace the concrete portion, which includes seeking grants… ‘We are going to need some major money here’, Tucker said. ‘If anyone has any money, we’d love to talk to them’”. [Emphasis added]:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2024/11/piermont-piers-final-section-closed.html

5. One Of The Tucker-Associated Non-Profits Is Begging People For US$10,000. Upon information and belief, Bruce Tucker and the Village of Piermont government use two apparent not-for-profit entities to front certain of their efforts and activities throughout the year. As I understand it, Mayor Bruce Tucker maintains a close connection to both entities. These entities are:

- “Piermont Civic Association” (501[c][3], IRS ruling year: 2014, EIN: 80-0916072):
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/800916072

- “Piermont Historical Society” (501[c][3], IRS ruling year: 2007, EIN: 56-2597821):
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/562597821/202331299349202958/full

I am not yet able to locate an on-file Form 990 for “Piermont Civic Association”.

“Piermont Historical Society”, on the other hand, lists Mayor Bruce Tucker’s residential address in Piermont, New York, as its own entity address, on its most recent Form 990.

In any event, in perhaps the most unabashed of recent actions, Bruce Tucker’s Village of Piermont, through the apparent instrumentality of Piermont Civic Association, appears to be now openly soliciting US$10,000 in funds for Christmas lights directly from Piermont residents and others on social media. Piermont Civic Association actually requests that donors either mail their checks to, or else drop them off at, Piermont Village Hall at 478 Piermont Avenue. Piermont Civic Association further requests that the checks be made out to “Village of Piermont”:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2024/12/just-make-your-checks-payable-to.html

* * * * *
This all raises what I believe to be a valid question worth further NYS Senate exploration.

If Mayor Bruce Tucker and the Village of Piermont already have US$3,200,000+ effectively banked as an “unassigned Fund Balance”, then why are they begging for donors for Piermont Pier repair and even for US$10,000 worth of Christmas lights?

Thank you for your continued attention to the Village of Piermont, New York and its innocent and previously-unsuspecting residents.

Respectfully submitted,

John J. Tormey III, Esq.

VIA FAX: 1-845-534-2520, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
skoufis@nysenate.gov
New York State Senator James Skoufis (D - 42^nd Senate District)
Chairman of Committee on Investigations and Government Operations
45 Quaker Avenue, Suites 202 & 207
Cornwall, New York 12518-2146 USA

VIA FAX: 1-518-426-6784, and U.S. MAIL
New York State Senator James Skoufis (D - 42nd Senate District)
188 State Street, Legislative Office Building, Room 815
Albany, New York 12247 USA

VIA U.S. MAIL, FAX: 1-518-426-6784, and E-MAIL:
fuentes@nysenate.gov
Emma Fuentes, Chief of Staff
Office of New York State Senator James Skoufis (D - 42nd Senate District)
188 State Street, Legislative Office Building, Room 815
Albany, New York 12247 USA

VIA U.S. MAIL, FAX: 1-518-426-6784, and E-MAIL:
vbest@nysenate.gov
Valerie Best, Director of Communications
Office of New York State Senator James Skoufis (D - 42nd Senate District)
188 State Street, Legislative Office Building, Room 815
Albany, New York 12247 USA