Where Were You While Bruce Was Getting High?

[Depicted above: Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker]

Outgoing lame-duck Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker has again misled his once-trusting Piermont New York neighbors. For many months now, Bruce Tucker has willfully and intentionally concealed major material developments from his constituents concerning Village Hall’s use of their tax dollars, and concerning the Risk Assessment and Audit performed on the Village of Piermont by Tom DiNapoli’s Office of the New York State Comptroller (OSC). Additionally, Mayor Tucker has colluded with other government officials in Piermont Village Hall including “Chief Fiscal Officer”, “Treasurer”, and Village Clerk Jennifer DeYorgi Maher, to deceive innocent Piermont resident taxpayers as to the various and sundry destinations of their hard-earned taxpayer monies, and the scope and breadth of OSC’s meticulous, extensive, and exhaustive Risk Assessment and Audit activity.
 
Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker and his companion “CFO/Treasurer” Jennifer DeYorgi Maher intentionally let out the news of the New York State Comptroller’s Risk Assessment and Audit over the last several months, as if they were slowly letting air leak out of an over-filled tire. On May 13, 2025, Bruce Tucker made comments during a public meeting at Piermont Village Hall premeditatively designed to deceptively minimize and downplay the seriousness and scope of OSC’s auditing activities. Quoth Tucker, in his inimitable Elizabeth, New Jersey whiskey-barrel throated accent:
 
“There is a State… [Uh]… Auditor who’s been here… for a few weeks now and… [Um]… He’s been making recommendations along the way… [Um]”:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/05/piermont-mayor-conceals-comptroller.html
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/07/2025-05-25-second-foil-to-comptroller.html
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/07/2025-05-14-garmento-mayor-tucker.html
[Emphasis added].

Mayor Tucker then proceeded to disclose only but one (1) of the OSC “recommendations” as having been made by a single individual male anonymous OSC Auditor – to wit, a “recommendation” relating to an obviously-excessive “Unassigned Fund Balance” which Tucker had previously taken:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/05/piermont-mayor-bruce-tucker-in-stew.html
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/05/piermont-mayor-bruce-tuckers-us367938.html
 
Yet this little monologue was just another Bruce Tucker canard.
 
In point of actual fact, the New York State Comptroller’s Risk Assessment and Audit have been enormous undertakings, ongoing for almost a full year now, handled by a veritable army of no less than TWENTY-THREE (23) OSC auditors and officials. All their names are in the voluminous OSC FOIL-produced work file, and I counted. Moreover, the Comptroller audit continues, to this day, and is not expected to conclude anytime soon – meaning that this particular supernova will likely expand much further before it ever starts to contract. Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker has yet again purposefully misled the Piermont resident taxpayers. By his inartful words, and by his omissions, Tucker misled Piermont about the scope and breadth of the OSC audit. Tucker therefore misled Piermont residents about the status of taxpayer money and the rank dysfunction of Piermont village government over the seven-plus years of his seamy mayoral reign.
 
Similarly, you will recall how Piermont’s “Chief Fiscal Officer” and “Treasurer” Jennifer DeYorgi Maher purposefully played down the seriousness and scope of the New York State Comptroller Audit on June 10, 2025 as well – as follows:

[At 00:13:10 – to 00:13:52]
[Addressing the Piermont Village Board and the Piermont taxpaying resident public]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uEm2g_T2Pc&t=845s
“We also have a letter from the State Comptroller’s Office… [Um]… Our… Auditors will be back this week to do ‘Procurement’… And that was the last piece and then… [Um]… The letter that… that… we received… I think the… that the Board received… is that they will be doing an Audit… They’re gonna contact us for a conference… They’ll identify what areas they’re gonna audit… [Um]… And that [Unintelligible]… [well they say]… [all different areas]… maybe…[Um]… And they’ll identify that… So there’s that… [Um]…
And that’s all that I have… [Emphasis added].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uEm2g_T2Pc&t=845s
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/07/thus-spaketh-village-yorg-piermont.html
 
This Jennifer DeYorgi Maher “statement” was a gross attempt to mislead Piermont residents. I know. After all, a few days ago I received a FOIL production of what appears to be the Comptroller’s whole work-file through May of 2025. That work-file contains almost 600 separate “.pdf”s, spreadsheets, and other documents. One of those documents is over 2,000 pages long. The majority of all those documents appear to have been routed through Jennifer DeYorgi Maher herself and through her Village of Piermont e-mail account, as for the most part Mayor Bruce Tucker was too cowardly to field the Comptroller inquiries himself.
 
Yet on June 10, 2025, DeYorgi Maher would have Piermont residents believe that “Procurement” was the “last piece” – and then?... What?...
 
“That’s all that I have”?...
 
Well, let me now tell you the facts that Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker and his evasive and guileful sidekick Jennifer DeYorgi Maher are thusfar far too afraid to tell you.
 
I sorted the 600 OSC-produced Risk Assessment and Audit documents into individual categories and digital file-folders. Here, below, are the items and categories that the New York State Comptroller had already scrutinized through May of this year in OSC’s Risk Assessment, Audit, and law enforcement investigation of Bruce Tucker’s Village of Piermont – alphabetized as a numbered list.
 
You will note that there are no less than one hundred and six (106) OSC-examined categories.
 
Looks to me like Jennifer DeYorgi Maher and Garmento Mayor Bruce Tucker, respectively, each “missed” one hundred and five (105) of those one hundred and six (106) categories apiece, when they counted.
 
Maybe those two are not so good with numbers after all.
 

New York State Comptroller Audited Items And Categories

For The Village Of Piermont, New York:
1. “Code Of Ethics” Of The Village.
2. 5-Year Capital Plan.
3. Accountants And CPAs Used By The Village.
4. Accounting Software.
5. Annual Financial Report Delinquency.
6. Annual Financial Reports (AFRs).
7. Audit Reports (Internal).
8. Banking.
9. Board Of Trustee Agendas.
10. Board Of Trustee Meetings.
11. Budgets.
12. Capital Projects.
13. Capital Projects Funds.
14. Capital Reserve Funds.
15. Cash Disbursements.
16. Cash Receipts.
17. Check Signatures – Electronic.
18. Check Signatures – Manual.
19. Clerk Duties.
20. Collective Bargaining Agreements.
21. Constitutional Tax Limits.
22. Contact-Management Systems.
23. Contacts With Other Municipalities.
24. Correspondence – Citizens.
25. Correspondence – FOIL.
26. Courts.
27. Data-Mapping.
28. Deposit Detail.
29. DPW Equipment.
30. Earnings Breakdowns.
31. Employee Lists.
32. Employees.
33. Employment Agreements.
34. Enhanced Reporting Of Payroll.
35. Financial Audits (Internal).
36. Financial Statements.
37. Firefighters.
38. Fiscal Oversight.
39. Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (Stress Monitor).
40. Follow-Up Inquiries.
41. Handbooks.
42. Information Technology (IT).
43. Insurance.
44. Law Enforcement Measures.
45. Leaf Blower Law.
46. Length Of Service Award Program (LOSAP).
47. Local Training.
48. Max Stach.
49. Mayor Bruce Tucker.
50. Mayor Bruce Tucker’s Questionnaire.
51. Minutes Of Meetings.
52. Municipal Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs).
53. Municipal Bond Debt.
54. Municipal Bond Issuances.
55. Municipality User Accounts.
56. Nelson Pope Voorhis.
57. New York Conference Of Mayors (NYCOM).
58. New York State And Local Retirement System (NYSLRS).
59. Overtime.
60. Payroll.
61. Payroll - Heartland.
62. Payroll - Transition To Enhanced Reporting.
63. Payroll Certification Reports.
64. Payroll Reports.
65. Policies.
66. Procurement.
67. Purchasing.
68. Questionnaires For Board Of Trustee Members.
69. QuickBooks.
70. Reconciliation Detail.
71. Reconciliation Summaries.
72. Reports From The Village.
73. Reserves.
74. Retirement.
75. Revenues.
76. Safety Measures.
77. Security Measures.
78. State Aid.
79. Sylvia Welch.
80. Tax Assessments.
81. Tax Assessments – Final Assessments.
82. Tax Bills.
83. Tax Collection.
84. Temporary Municipal Assistance (TMA).
85. Training.
86. Transaction Detail By Account.
87. Transportation.
88. Treasurer Reports.
89. Trial Balance Reports.
90. Trustee Christine McAndrews.
91. Trustee Mark Blomquist.
92. Trustee Michael Wright.
93. Unassigned Fund Balances.
94. Village Clerk Jennifer DeYorgi Maher.
95. Village Contact-Information.
96. Village Directory.
97. Village Employee Absences.
98. Village Employee Leaves.
99. Village Employee Leaves - Accruals.
100. Village Employee Sick Days.
101. Village Employee Vacation Days.
102. Village Notes.
103. Warrants.
104. Warrants - Reports.
105. Workday And Reporting Resolutions.
106. Workers Compensation.

"But Audits Are A Girl's Best Friend".

Law Office of John J. Tormey III, Esq.

John J. Tormey III, PLLC
1636 Third Avenue, PMB 188
New York, New York  10128  USA
(212) 410-4142 (phone)
(212) 410-2380 (fax)
jtormey@optonline.net
https://www.tormey.org
 
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
 
VIA FAX: 1-518-473-9104, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
lcrisafulli@osc.ny.gov
Laura M. Crisafulli, Esq. - Assistant Counsel
State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC)

Division Of Legal Services
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
110 State Street, 14^th Floor
Albany, New York  12236  USA
 
Re:      

The Ongoing Audit Of Piermont, New York And Outgoing Mayor Bruce Tucker
Chairperson and VP Dan Sherman - “Dan Sherman Landscape Architect”
 
Dear Ms. Crisafulli, and OSC Colleagues:
 
As you know from my prior correspondence, as a concerned Town of Orangetown resident, I very much appreciate the fact that OSC is proceeding to audit the Village of Piermont and outgoing Mayor Bruce Tucker. I also appreciate the massive document-production of OSC Records which OSC furnished me several days ago pursuant to FOIL – thank you.
 
As I am sure that you have done already as well, I have since scoured the so-produced Mayor Bruce Tucker’s Village of Piermont “Cash Disbursements” logs (the “Check Logs”) - that is, the Check Log for 2023-2024 (65 pages):
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/08/new-york-state-comptroller-releases_1.html
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/08/curious-yellow-part-1.html
 
…and, the Check Log for 2024-2025 (interestingly, a more modest 54 pages):
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/08/new-york-state-comptroller-releases.html
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/08/curious-yellow-part-2-2024-2025.html
 
I specifically focused on individuals or companies that may be physically located within the 2,500-person Village of Piermont, or otherwise bear a connection to lame-duck Mayor Bruce Tucker or Piermont Village Hall government. I found a number of them in the Check Logs. Naturally I question whether these particular debits were generated out of appropriate procurement practices such as competitive bidding between multiple prospective vendors. After all, to say that Mayor Bruce Tucker’s Village of Piermont government has operated on the basis of inbred cronyism and the spoils system of patronage and token economy, would be a vast understatement. Tucker’s management “style” would best be described as “Tammany-on-the-Hudson”.
 
My understanding is that Piermont’s annual budget is US$7,000,000+. Through that lens, there are many payments in the Piermont Check Logs which appear excessive or otherwise questionable, as I am sure that you have noted too.
 
Yet one subject-matter category that struck me as particularly outrageous, is landscaping.
 
According to the Check Logs, Bruce Tucker’s Village of Piermont government-incurred taxpayer-payable landscaping debt was at least US$111,749.75 in 2023-2024 – then, that dollar figure more than tripled to at least US$351,043.18 in 2024-2025. That last debit figure appears to be about 5% of Piermont’s annual budget, and over a whopping 8% of Bruce Tucker’s journaled total Cash Disbursements for 2024-2025.
 
However, in my opinion, even more of a concern should be the role of one Dan Sherman of Piermont:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/08/dan-sherman-chairman-and-vice-president.html

Dan Sherman apparently billed the Village of Piermont in the following amounts, most or all of which appear to have been landscaping-related charges that he assessed:
                       

US$587.98 Debit: 

Dan Sherman (2023-2024).

US$19,600.00 Debit: 

Dan Sherman “Landscape Architect” (2023-2024).

US$983.68 Debit: 

Dan Sherman (2024-2025).

US$4,325.00 Debit: 

Dan Sherman “Landscape Architect” (2024-2025).

US$ 25,496.66 (TOTAL)

Here is the corresponding Dan Sherman excerpt from the 2023-2024 Check Log:

... And here is the corresponding Dan Sherman excerpt from the 2024-2025 Check Log:

When considering the twenty-five grand+ that Dan Sherman billed the Village of Piermont over the two-year period, it should be noted that Dan Sherman also maintains at least two official roles in connection with the Village of Piermont or its government. Dan Sherman serves as the Chairperson of the Piermont Parks Commission (PPC), a village commission in Piermont responsible for advising Bruce Tucker’s Piermont Village Board on matters related to park development and beautification:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/08/dan-sherman-chairman-piermont-parks.html

Dan Sherman also serves as Vice-President of the Piermont Historical Society (PHS):
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/08/dan-sherman-vice-president-piermont.html
Piermont Historical Society is a non-profit entity seeking to maintain the history and heritage of Piermont - working hand-in-hand with Mayor Bruce Tucker as an instrumentality of Piermont Village government.

At minimum, and to the extent that OSC may have not done so already, I believe that an inquiry should be made as to: (A) whether, in either of his official roles noted above, Dan Sherman may or could have steered the Village of Piermont in a direction that could have resulted in the enhancement of his bank account as “Dan Sherman Landscape Architect” or individually – and (B) the degree to which outgoing Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker or others in Piermont Village Government may have been complicit in any such arrangement if occurring. The above degree of inter-connectedness simply does not look right to an outside observer. Was that US$25,496.66 earned appropriately?
 
For example, during the period of time from 2023 to 2025, did any Piermont Parks or Piermont Historical Society decisions or actions, involve landscaping? If so, did Dan Sherman recuse himself in advance from any such decisions or actions? If so, was recusal alone an adequate response - or alternatively, should Dan Sherman simply have forgone the US$25,496.66 in billings instead? While true, I cannot speak for the Piermont residents, I am nevertheless certain that many of them must now have these same questions in mind.
 
While I suppose it is possible on the other hand that all landscaping charges during this 2023-to-2025 time-period were properly-invoiced as arms-length transactions pursuant to proper and appropriate procurement practices fully-consistent with the Piermont Code of Ethics and applicable law – on the other hand, Piermont is a small 2,500-person village in New York State which, according to its own financial records yet to be fully audited, just blew almost half a million dollars on landscaping alone during a brief two-year time-period.
 
On that same note, in late June of this year, I received several harassing phone calls from Dan Sherman’s spouse. One of the disparaging voicemails that Dan Sherman’s spouse left for me, sought to glean information from me and, as I interpreted it, also sought to disrupt or stop the forward progress of my research and publication of Piermont government malfeasance. The caller did not leave his name. Yet my Caller ID clearly identified the caller by his “845” area-code phone number as Dan Sherman’s spouse:

https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/miracle-of-miracles-sunrise-sunset-gets-a-gay-makeover/
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/07/photos-new-yorks-first-gay-married-couples/353203/
 
Once I researched the caller and learned that he profiles himself as a professional Carol Channing impersonator (no, I kid you not), I then took the malicious phone calls a lot less seriously - although I did then wonder why Dan Sherman’s spouse did not instead elect to phone me in character:
https://cabaretscenes.org/2019/07/23/richard-skipper-theres-nothing-like-this-minute/
 
However, and all joking aside, what I do think should be considered by OSC, is whether these phone calls of late June from Dan Sherman’s spouse to me were triggered by or otherwise connected to the OSC audit or perhaps the perceived imminence thereof. I have received no such similar calls since it became publicly-known that the Piermont audit is ongoing and the Piermont Check Logs were released by OSC – and Dan Sherman likely already knows that his name and the name of his landscaping company both appear in the Mayor Bruce Tucker Village of Piermont Check Logs. That said, hopefully no one has called any of you and sung “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” into your voicemail lately.

Finally, for now, although I know that you have this data already, below are the landscaping-related charges that I could discern from Bruce Tucker’s Piermont Check Logs:
 
2023-2024
Arbor Hill: US$1,500
Dan Sherman: US$587.98
Dan Sherman Landscape Architect: US$19,600
Guardia Landscape & Masonry: US$62,401
Jane Kim (planters): US$894.77
Sarvis Tree: US$8,600
Yaboo Fence: US$18,166
US$111,749.75 (TOTAL)
 
2024-2025
Arbor Hill: US$900
Belleville: US$202,605
Dan Sherman: US$983.68
Dan Sherman Landscape Architect: US$4,325
Guardia Landscape & Masonry: US$111,980
Sarvis Tree: US$28,950
W.G. Lawn: US$600
Yaboo Fence: US$699.50

US$351,043.18 (TOTAL)
 
Thank you, all, for your continued attention to this matter.
 
Very truly yours,

John J. Tormey III, Esq.
Resident of the Town of Orangetown, New York

cc:
VIA U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
mcolangelo@osc.ny.gov
Matthew P. (Matt) Colangelo
State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC)
Division of Local Government & School Accountability
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
33 Airport Center Drive - Newburgh Regional Office
New Windsor, New York  12553  USA
 
VIA U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
bsheevers@osc.ny.gov
Brian Sheevers - Auditor 3 (Municipal)
State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) - Local Government and School Accountability
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
33 Airport Center Drive, Suite 102 - Newburgh Regional Office
New Windsor, New York  12553  USA
 
VIA U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
lnewhall@osc.ny.gov
muni-newburgh@osc.ny.gov
LGSA-Audits@osc.ny.gov
Laura A. Newhall – Auditor 3
State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC)
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
33 Airport Center Drive, Suite 102 - Newburgh Regional Office
New Windsor, New York  12553  USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-518-473-8940, (1-212-681-4468), U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
contactus@osc.ny.gov
sgaaudits@osc.ny.gov
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) – Albany Office
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
110 State Street
Albany, New York  12236  USA       
 
VIA U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
jfreeman@osc.ny.gov
press@osc.ny.gov
Jennifer L. Freeman, Communications Director
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) – New York City Office
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
59 Maiden Lane
New York, New York  10038  USA
 
VIA U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
eburgess@strategen.com
Edward Burgess – Director
Strategen
10265 Rockingham Drive, Suite #100-4061
Sacramento, California  95827  USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-518-408-3931, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
InspectorGeneral@osc.ny.gov
Lucy Lang, Inspector General
State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) – Inspector General
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
Empire State Plaza, Agency Building 2, 16th Floor
Albany, New York  12223  USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-518-408-3931, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
investigations@osc.ny.gov
Jennifer Wood, CFE - Chief of Investigations
State of New York, Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) – Investigations Division
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
59 Maiden Lane
New York, New York  10038  USA

Dan Sherman - PPC "Chairman" And PHS "Vice-President".

Dan Sherman - "Vice President", Piermont Historical Society.

 

Dan Sherman - "Chairman", Piermont Parks Commission.

 

Curious (Yellow) - Part 2: 2024-2025.