Can He Survive?
By Dan Murphy
A report that initially appeared in The Talk of the Sound website, alleging New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson tried to influence his way into a job serving as Development Commissioner for the City, has now expanded into a New Rochelle Ethics Board review, confirmation by other media outlets, and has become the talk of Westchester County.
The allegations are that Mayor Bramson improperly attempted to influence City Manager Chuck Strome to get appointed to the Development Commissioner’s post, at a salary of more than $200,000 per year, through “unlawful influence and coercion.”
Included in Cox’s initial story, which can be found at https://talkofthesound.com/2022/03/20/new-rochelle-mayor-improperly-sought-appointment-as-development-commissioner-in-violation-of-city-charter/ is a letter from City Manager Strome that outlines the questionable position that Mayor Bramson put him in while considering the appointment of a sitting Mayor to the position of Commissioner of Economic Development,
Calling the request by Bramson, an “extraordinarily unusual appointment” request, Strome writes, “Although you may disagree, I have always felt that there were two major obstacles fror me to consider making this appointment. One is the optics of a professional manager appointing an elected official (politician) to a management position in the city organization. To my knowledge this has never been done…. Secondly, I was very concerned with my reputation as a professional manager and how my peers would react…I have also mentioned that I was concerned about the City Charter implications and the professional ethics implications of making such an appointment,” said Strome, who sought two opinions on Bramson’s request; one from outside legal counsel, and one from the ICMA, International City/County Management Association.
ICMA found, “appointing a sitting elected official would violate three of the twelve tenents of the Code of Ethics,” writes Strome. “It is clear that the Code of Ethics requires the appointment be made after an open, transparent and competitive process.
The ICMA opinon goes on to say, ” appointing a sitting elected official to serve in a staff position, even if they meet all of the qualifications, looks like patronage and self-dealing.”
“I am simply not willing to put myself in the position of being charged with a violation of my profession’s Code of Ethics…. most of my peers in the profession would have dismissed this idea out of hand…I believe that ..appointing a sitting elected official to a professional position could be a violation of the City Charter and is most certainly a violation of my professional code of ethics. I am not willing to do that,” writes Strome.
On March 20, the Editor of Talk of the Sound, New Rochelle resident Robert Cox, filed an ethics complaint which states, “it has come to my attention that an elected official in the City of New Rochelle sought to use his elected office to enrich himself by obtaining through coercion, actual or implied, a job with an annual salary exceeding $200,000, plus benefits, which he is not qualified under the New Rochelle City Charter, that he subjected a public officer to unwarranted assaults on their integrity, and that he sought to usurp the authority of the City Manager…and in doing so may have violated the New Rochelle City Charter, the New Rochelle Ethics policy, and New York State law.”
The four page complaint, includes references to the City Charter, including Article VII, Section 76 which states required qualifications for Commissioner of Economic Development as “reasonable knowledge of traffic engineering and planning,” and “not less than 10 years experience” in the same areas.
In the complaint, Cox alleges that when asked, Mayor Bramson told him, “Chuck (Strome) and I had informal conversations about the possibility-but a shift like that is just unworkable on multiple levels, and I did not apply.” However, the letter from Strome indicates that Bramson has much more interest in the position.
Strome is leaving his position as City Manager and retiring. But before the departs, he appointed Kathy Gill to the positon of Deputy City Manager, in an effort to have her promoted to City Manager when he leaves. Cox claims, in both his stories and his complaint, that Bramson is trying to block Gill’s appointment, in the hopes that he can appoint someone favorable to his future employment goals.
Cox calls the whole incident an “attempted coup detat by the Mayor to circumvent the City Charter, and to install a puppet City Manager who would appoint Bramson. It appears that any attempts by Bramson to become Commissioner of Development have been dashed, by Cox’s reporting, Strome’s memo, and the Ethics complaint. Plus a new Commissioner of Development has already been hired.
Bramson has been elected Mayor four times, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, easily winning reeletion, but has announced (before this incident) that he will not seek reelection to a fifth term when his current term ends in 2023.
The Journal News, LoHud.com, ran a feature story on this matter on April 2. In that story, Mayor Bramson denied any wrongdoing and said that he is “fully confident that all of the conversations involved were entirely ethical.”
Instead of looking for his next Gig, Bramson’s future as Mayor is now in doubt. One New Rochelle insider told us, “this basically ends Mayor Bramson’s political career. I’m not sure if there is enough to warrant his regination but it was a stupid idea. If he wanted another job, he could have looked to the private sector or perhaps in county government. Now, instead of his future, there is the fear that he might have to resign or lose the confidence of the city council and the democratic party.”
Another leader in the New Rochelle Democratic party said that relations between Bramson and Strome were great until this happened. The two were recently seen at an event in New Rochelle sharing a drink together. “That was a show to make it appear that everything is OK. But lets see what the Ethics Board says and what law enforcement says about the allegation. I think everyone believe that Chuck Strome is a wonderful public servant, and for him to make those allegations agains the Mayor after the two have worked together for decades, is a big deal.”
Many have also commented to us about the source of this story and complaint, Robert Cox. We believe that the most important part of this story is the memo from the City Manager. And the Ethics complaint filed by Mr. Cox has the legalese and professionalism of being penned by an attorney. This story has merit regardless of where it came from, just ask Journal News reporter David Propper.
