Eight members of the Dutchess County Legislature announced today that they are seeking formal investigations into Marc Molinaro’s conduct by the County Board of Ethics, the New York Attorney General’s Office, and the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (“JCOPE”).
The formal complaint was sent this past weekend following the discovery that Molinaro failed to disclose that a member of his immediate family was employed by a company receiving county contracts and tax breaks.
As has been reported, Marc Molinaro may have engaged in activities that amount to a violation of both the spirit and the letter of local and State ethics laws – in particular, the Dutchess County Code of Ethics (“the Ethics Code”) and Article 18 of the General Municipal Law.
Public documents have corroborated the newspaper reports, leading to concerns and questions regarding possible corruption in the Dutchess County procurement processes. Among those documents are Molinaro’s 2015 and 2016 financial disclosure forms where he failed to list his spouse’s job with a county contractor and his 2017 form where he did not identify the company nor the conflict of interest.
These unethical and potentially illegal schemes must be investigated, and if proven illegal, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.