During a press conference held late Wednesday afternoon, Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks said that the two county-affiliated local development corporations at the center of a state Attorney General’s investigation will sever their ties with their key contractor, Navitech.

The company’s founders and owners, John Maggio and Daniel Lynch, were arrested and arraigned yesterday on several charges. An indictment unsealed earlier Wednesday afternoon alleges that the pair were part of a bid-rigging scheme. Brooks husband, Robert Wiesner, and the county’s former chief information technology officer, Nelson Rivera, were also charged and arraigned this afternoon were allegedly also involved in aspects of that scheme. 

Brooks said that the two local development corporations, Upstate Telecommunications Corporation and Monroe Safety and Security Systems, help the county perform important functions in cost-effective ways.

And during the press conference, former state Attorney General Dennis Vacco, who the county hired to review the LDCs’ operations, said that he’d recommended three key reforms. Severing the contract with Navitech is one. The county will also review the LDCs’ relationships with all subcontractors implicated in the attorney general’s investigation, he said. And county Public Safety Director David Moore will directly oversee the county’s relationships with the LDC’s.

As for the charges facing Wiesner, Brooks didn’t say much.

“There’s two things I don’t talk about: personnel issues and personal issues,”  she said.

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This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2013.

Covers county government and whatever else comes my way. Greyhound dad; vegetarian; attempted photographer with a love for film and fixer; sometimes cyclist.

4 replies on “Brooks, Vacco address LDC probe”

  1. Let’s see this clearly although it is so obvious it barely needs to stated: Maggie Brooks uses county tax dollars to hire highly partisan republican Dennis Vacco to deliver the almost singular message that Maggie Brooks did no wrong. And she expects that this will give us confidence? Can Vacco leave now so we can really get to the bottom of this mess? And sorry Maggie, but your husband is not just a personal issue, he is unfortunately a county and taxpayer issue as well, which could have been totally avoided if your family just kept their alleged hands out of the Monroe County cookie jar. That is your fault, Maggie Brooks.

  2. Dennis is Maggie’s cooking spray. He stands beside her and in front of her to make sure nothing penetrates Maggie’s Teflon. Will something stick this time?

    Maggie’s husband would be a personal issue IF he had nothing to do with county government. Since he is connected to county government, he involvement is not personal.

    Maggie’s style continues to be reactionary. She will be credited for taking action as soon as something became public and no one will ask the tough question about why she isn’t proactive and why she surrounds herself with less than upstanding people.

  3. And “Birds of a feather, flock together”. Sometimes they even marry & use power and influence to gain for themselves. That’s called corruption, right? It’s just more greed. We have it on a national, state & local level. And of course, Maggie won’t recuse herself from the investigation!!!

  4. Jim Rogala:
    Yup, and Hilary Clinton is unfit for office because her husband was impeached. (he’s also a liar and can’t be trusted around other women)

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