Last week, a Letter to the Editor from a frequent correspondent was published, questioning why the case of a Franklin County legislator who had apparently overbilled his county for mileage reimbursement hadn't been settled. We have been asking that question for more than a year.
In November 2007, Press-Republican Staff Writer Denise Raymo wrote a series of articles detailing expenses charged to the county and to the county's Solid Waste Management Authority by members of the legislature and of the Authority Board.
Among the bills covered were those of St. Regis Falls Legislator Raymond Susice. Raymo's stories brought to light the fact that Susice had sometimes billed twice for the same trip and that he was charging the county more to drive 42 miles (round trip) to his meetings than Legislator Paul Maroun, who has to travel three times as far.
Susice had explained the disparity by claiming he had to attend several meetings, though he sometimes billed both the legislature and the Waste Authority for the same trip for meetings in the same building on the same day. He also exaggerated distances traveled on a number of occasions.
Because Susice was on the legislature's Public Safety Committee, which oversees the budget of the office of Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne, the DA asked to have a special prosecutor appointed, and Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie was selected. For Champagne to have investigated the case himself would have been a conflict of interest.
So Wylie became the special prosecutor in July 2007, at which time he promised to sort through the issues and come up with a satisfactory conclusion to the case, which presumably would include restitution by Susice.
In early November of last year, no progress had been reported, so the Press-Republican asked Wylie for an update.
"Restitution has not been decided yet," he told us. "We're still working with his attorneys and the county manager. There are issues as far as a time frame, and his lawyers are preparing a defense in response to travel mileage.
"We're still working on a number of how much there will be in restitution, if any. It is improper to charge him with criminal offenses, but there are explanations to be explored."
Then, Wylie added, "I'm not going to let this drag out, and I'm not doing this for any political purpose."
Now, more than a year after that, we still await a resolution, the case having indeed been dragged out well beyond appropriateness. If it is not being done for a political purpose, then what?
If John Doe had overcharged Franklin County, he very likely would have been brought to account long ago. Even if the delay were unintentional, which would certainly be cause for concern on its own, both Susice and Wylie must realize it gives the public the impression that something bad is afoot here. Wylie hasn't returned numerous Press-Republican calls asking about that issue.
The amount of money in the end may be insignificant, but a public official benefited from it at the expense of every taxpayer in the county. That is intolerable and, as yet, unexplained.
Opinion
December 20, 2008
EDITORIAL: Susice case still unresolved
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