Monroe County's outgoing District Attorney Mike Green is hired to head the Appeals Bureau in the DA's office.
Nothing wrong with that; maybe even a good idea. Green's smooth lying about it in a press conference and subsequent lying to explain the original lie doesn't change that.
Yet he then states he's not doing the work for which taxpayers are paying him $110,000 per year, plus benefits. It just happened to be an open slot in an organizational chart. "I'm here for one purpose," Green told the press: new DA Doorley gave him the job "to help with the transition."
The clock's running at nearly $4,000 per week, inclusive of benefits, for a job its holder admits he isn't doing.
After a few weeks, that's more than cigar-and-strippers money.
For unclear transition services that remain unstated. Transition services the world would have thought unnecessary for a new DA with 20 years of experience in the office, most recently as second-in-command.
Democratic and Chronicle news editor Karen Magnuson, following standard procedure for news putting her side in a bad light, did the usual one-off story, then total silence. Down the memory hole. Our self-proclaimed "watchdogs" are off somewhere, maybe sniffing each others hindquarters as dogs will.
There's nobody left to stand up for taxpayers footing the bill, or to ask the questions on their behalf. Except for our County Legislature.
Since no one else is acting, getting to the bottom of this scandal is as much a part of their job as keeping property tax rates flat.
County Legislators: Ask District Attorney Doorley for the information. If you're stonewalled, file Freedom of Information Law requests. If that doesn't do it, form a special committee to investigate, using your subpoena power to dig out the truth.
Such action isn't necessary in situations where the whole weight of the media is cranking out stories day after day. (Again, cigars come to mind, or a single incident of bad judgment at a Christmas Party by a competent and otherwise respected airport director).
Here, it's just you.
If you don't do it, apparently no one will.
Meanwhile, for taxpayers, the meter's running at four grand a week.
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