WPCNR COUNTY-CLARION LEDGER, from the Westchester County Board of Legislators. April 29,2011:
Westchester County Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers) released a statement this afternoon responding to continued and unsubstantiated partisan attacks directed at him by Board Republicans through recent articles published in the Journal News. The newspaper printed two articles this week about the county’s short-form contract process and Chairman Jenkins’ call for an investigation into possible violations of the contract procurement policy.
The statement:
“When I took over as Chair of the Legislature last year, I made a strong commitment towards furthering transparency and accountability within the Board of Legislators. With this in mind, I strongly refute the half-truths that the news staff of the Journal News feels are worthy of multiple stories and sensational headlines.
The baseless assertions being reported, along with the continued political posturing by Republicans to distract the public from the real need for modifications of the acquisitions and contracts process. These attacks are nothing more than a sorry attempt to create a scandal out of thin air to distract the public from the Legislature’s substantial legislative accomplishments and cost-cutting initiatives under my leadership.
Before Legislator Marcotte with the help of the news staff of the Journal News, launches another misguided attack, they should probably take a hard look at the facts.
FACT: Procurement Contract Reform was NOT launched due to the Journal News story.
To the contrary, I sponsored legislation last April to begin to examine and modify the county’s procurement process. [1] Through our legislative due diligence, my colleagues and I have been examining and analyzing the way that the county historically allocated funding to many diverse and important non-profit community organizations.
On the heels of the before-mentioned legislation, I have asked several of the Board’s Committees to begin investigating alleged patterns of abuse throughout the short-form contract process, where several companies have been given multiple contracts for the same purpose. This practice is a violation of the county’s procurement policy.
FACT: The Republican legislation calling for contracts to be listed on the web was already done under the previous Administration.
If Legislator Marcotte put as much energy into present legislative practices versus her political antics, she would’ve noticed that her recent bill calling for the County place all contracts on its website is a little late, given that, during the previous Administration, the County made available all contracts on their website.
The Board’s Committee on Legislation requested that all contracts be listed during it September 13, 2010 meeting, at which time, it was determined that it had already been done. The link can be found here: http://contractsearch.westchestergov.com/contractsearch/. Legislator Marcotte should be more concerned about serving her constituents and reducing taxes than playing partisan politics and offering up redundant ideas.
The rhetoric being spewed really isn’t about me, as Chairman, but the need for the Legislature to move on true reform, ensuring that all vendors have an equal opportunity to bid for the County’s goods and services.
Republicans are clearly concerned that a thorough review of the $5.3 million in short-form contracts authorized by the Administration in 2010 might show some irregularities. I would think the Republicans would welcome a review of the distribution of approximately $75 million in contracts.
Working with county agencies, businesses and non-profit communities, the Board is embarking on instituting the kind of changes that will help ensure contracts are awarded only to responsible vendors who have the integrity and the capacity to deliver the goods and services they promise. Westchester taxpayers a competitive and transparent contract system in place here at the county level. These silly distractions need to come to an end, and Legislators need to refocus their attention on delivering real reform. I am confident that we can, finally, get the conversation back on track, and create meaningful unprecedented contract reform that will offer giving Westchester residents complete faith in the way public dollars are spent.”
