By Dan Murphy
In a letter dated May 18 to Yonkers Inspector General Liam McLaughlin, six members of the Yonkers City Council requested an investigation into recent allegations made against Council President Mike Khader.
The letter states, “We, the undersigned members of, and majority of the City Council, write to you today under § C7-2(A) of the City Charter (entitled “Powers and Duties”). Pursuant to this section, we formally request that your office open an inquiry into two matters that have recently come to our attention and to that of the public regarding the conduct of the City Council President, Michael Khader.
“The first matter concerns whether the relationship between Mr. Khader and his legal counsel, Jeffrey Buss, as well as that of Mr. Buss’s firm, Smith Buss & Jacobs LLP, complies with the Ethics Code of the City of Yonkers, as well as any and all applicable City and State laws.
“The second matter is in regard to an ex-employee’s comments to Mr. Khader, regarding whether a hostile work environment existed and/or continues to exist in the Office of the City Council President.
“Recognizing the importance of these allegations, we urge you to take every step necessary to ensure that a thorough, efficient, and transparent inquiry is conducted, which addresses both real and perceived conflicts, so that the public may have good faith in your office’s findings on these matters,” states the letter signed by Council Majority Leader Corazon Pineda-Isaac, Minority Leader Mike Breen, and Councilmembers Shanae Williams, Tasha Diaz, John Rubbo and Anthony Merante.
The allegations concerning Khader and the law firm of Smith, Buss & Jacobs, concern the fact that Khader uses the same address for his law practice and that once taking office as Council President, Khader appointed Jeff Buss to serve as counsel to the City Council. Other allegations are made online regarding this relationship, but nothing with facts have been presented yet.
The second allegation concerns a former employee of Council President Khader, Karen Schullere, who serves as the Chief of the Yonkers Police Auxiliary. Schullere served as community outreach liaison in the Council President Khader’s office.
According to a published report in the Yonkers Tribune, when asked to complete an employee evaluation questionnaire, Schullere did so. She writes, “I truly enjoyed fulfilling my role as community outreach liaison. That being said, you asked for my feedback and here it is, as requested.”
“The main takeaway should be that actions speak louder than words: You favor men over women. Overall, you do not hold women in high regard. Less than a month after I began working with you, I realized that men held high favor and this was something that you don’t hide. From day one, you constantly treated David Broadway as though he were more important than your … female Aides. This was cemented when he left and was not only allowed to return but I also realized that the only reason that I was getting a raise was because you wanted to give him a raise. You followed up with treating every man that arrived in the office as if they can do no wrong from Anand to David and now Joe. You protected them and favored them; until you didn’t. It should be noted that about three months into your first year, this subject came up in the front office and everyone had already come to this conclusion separately.
“You like your employees until you don’t. You don’t realize that as Aides, working together, we talk. It should come as no surprise that it is unprofessional for you to discuss the performance of one employee with another. You should never have asked me what I thought about the job performance of my fellow employees when you were having issues with those employees. It should come as no surprise that I would also then hear from my fellow employees that you did the same about me.
You don’t respect or have high regard for your employees overall.
“I was a member of the Mayor’s Yonkers Green City Advisory Committee until 2018. Environmental education is important to me. It was held in high importance when I was appointed and it was a membership that I enjoyed and valued. Unfortunately, not only did you take me off the committee for political gain but you didn’t even bother to tell me. I was told by someone outside the office. Then, as if you didn’t even remember that you replaced me, you then told me that you put Bill on because of Rona. Bill is my friend. He was appalled to eventually find out that I had been on the committee but more so, that he replaced me. He was going to leave but I asked him to let it go.
“There was a storm a few years ago. If you recall, that day, it took people an average of four hours to get home. I will never forget it because it wasn’t a surprise storm, we knew it was coming for days, just not to that extent but a storm is a storm. Unfortunately, the day before the storm, you told me you were coming to the office to speak to me so I should wait for you in the office.
“The storm arrived. As always, Saida told us to leave when we thought we needed to because she cares for our wellbeing and wanted us to be safe. Despite her advising us to leave, I waited for you. I waited and waited. After waiting for hours, I called you to ask if you were still coming and you didn’t even remember that you had told me to wait. It took me over four hours but I could have been safely home if only I had listened to Saida. You still make appointments with us and outside people and just don’t show up and no, you don’t always return our calls and texts no matter how often you say that you will, much less do.
“You tried to take credit for my appointment to Chief of the Auxiliary. I worked hard from the day I stepped into Peace Officer Training. Although I never would have expected to go from Sergeant to Chief, I was promoted by the Commissioner based on my abilities and the Mayor signed off on it. I will never forget the day that you came into the office and I told you that I was promoted. You said, “I wondered how long it would take you to tell me. How do you think you got it”. Naturally, I don’t want favors or handouts. I reached out to Deputy Chief Sapienza who is honest and respects me and asked if you had anything to do with this and he was appalled that you would have told me that. He said that I earned it on my own merit.
“Early on, I had a suggestion regarding the newsletter. I brought your attention to issues with Brigitte and the newsletter. I relayed that constituents were complaining that they couldn’t get items into the newsletter but also as you may recall, she even had a fight over the phone with Rona. Imagine my surprise when I heard that you had said that I didn’t like Brigitte and this was all personal. No, I had your back. At the time, I cared
“You have little to no regard for Saida despite the fact that she should be the most important person in your office.
Saida is one of the smartest people that I have ever met. She knows everything about City Hall and the way this City works. She is able to get almost anything done based on her knowledge of the system and the friends that she has made over the years. We go to Saida to effectively do our jobs and again, she helps us get things done but most important is that she always knows which direction to take. She is amazing. I can tell you that I only remained in my position as long as I did, because of Saida. She is an extraordinary Chief of Staff and would do even more for you but you don’t know how important she is to you. Again, I can only assume you don’t value her because she is a woman. Not only does she have impeccable management skills, but she cares about your staff in ways that you never could or would.
“Imagine our surprise when new employees walk into the office and we find out that she has never met them. I can guarantee that the quality of the employees in your office would have been better if Saida always had input into your new hires. You certainly would not have hired Bengis or even Lena who knows absolutely nothing about anything that has to do with Yonkers or your office.
“I will never forget attending the first trade event planned in 2018 at the Riverfront Library. We, as staff, were still new. I stood watching Saida trying to get a point across to you but you became irate and pulled her across the room for a heated discussion as if she was a child. How disrespectful
“You continuously make plans with your staff and leave Saida on the outside. Quite often, you would have us working on something only to then find out, it can’t be done, which Saida would have told you in the first place. Inevitably, I began to ask Saida to come out to the bullpen when you spoke to us so that she would be aware of your plans.”
“In the eyes of constituents, you have a reputation for being shall I say, frugal.
In contrast, as employees, we can never forget Saida’s generosity. A lunch here, a lunch there, but you? At this point, we have constituents reaching out to your office for donations despite the fact that they have already heard that you don’t donate to the community and they have stated just that.
“In the eyes of the public, you have a reputation for not following through with what you say. The list would be too long if I relayed to you every time someone said, “but he didn’t do anything or he didn’t finish something”.
I could go on but I have to get ready for work. I think I have painted a clear picture, which is that actions speak louder than words,” writes Schullere.
Ron Matten, republican candidate for council president, called on the City Council to investigate the allegations against Khader. “Another material fact not specified in the article concerns campaign donations. Smith Bus and Jacobs and their various partners have donated thousands of dollars to the Khader campaign. Use of the office for campaign activities is a “like in kind” campaign contribution.
“I am requesting that the Yonkers City Council utilize Article IV, section C-12 of the City of Yonkers Charter to conduct a formal hearing and investigation into the quid pro quo allegation. The Council President should step down and recuse himself from further legislative activities until the Council is completed their investigation.
“Quid pro quo is a breach of the public trust. This alleged violation harms the Council and the City of Yonkers as a whole. As residents and taxpayers, we require transparency and assurance that our government is acting in our interests. I suspect that Council President would welcome this investigation to clear his name and restore the trust in the Council and City of Yonkers. All individuals mentioned herein are assumed innocent,” writes Matten.
Inspector General McLaughlin is the former Council President, who lost his re-election bid to Khader 4 years ago. Khader has the democratic party’s endorsement for his re-electon. Lakisha Colllins-Bellamy is also running in the democratic primary June 22. Zaida, referenced in Schullere’s letter is Zaida Jereis, Khader’s Chief of Staff.
