Tom Corbia Claims He was Hacked but Won’t Provide Devices to Prove It
By Dan Murphy
On September 16, 2020, the following post appeared on the Facebook timeline of Port Chester School Board President Thomas Corbia.
“I’m selling my white privilege card. It’s just over 77 years old and it hasn’t done a damn thing for me. No inheritance, no free college, no free food, no free housing, etc. I may even be willing to do an even trade for a race card. Those seem way more useful and more widely accepted. Interested? Contact me on my non-obama (sic) cell phone that I have to pay for every month. Serious inquiries only.”
The post was followed by a comment attributed to the President of the Port Chester School Board which read (but with profanity spelled out) “You are the f****** best and whoever doesn’t like that post, well they know what they can do.”
Another troubling Facebook post was found under Mr. Corbia’s account. This one was posted in 2018, at which time a Port Chester resident took and saved a screenshot of it.
“Illegal immigrants sent $56 billion in pure cash to their home countries last year alone. That’s after their kids enjoyed free education, free lunches and free medical care all paid for by you!”
Shortly after the posts were discovered, and outrage in the community began to pour in, Mr. Corbia claimed that his Facebook account was hacked and he did not post nor share these comments, and welcomed an investigation by the school board Ethics Committee.
The Ethics Committee immediately proceeded to hire T&M, an outside internet technology firm to investigate and determine if Corbia was hacked. In order to conduct their investigation, the company had to have access to Corbia’s devices (cell phone or computers) to validate him his claim.
When the moment of truth came to hand over his devices for the good of the students and taxpayers of Port Chester, Corbia said, “Over My Dead Body” would he hand over his devices.
Now, 160 days after the comments were found, Thomas Corbia still presides over the Port Chester School Board, and he remains defiantly uninterested in resolving the matter, while members of the community push for his resignation, forced removal or his cell phone, to get back to the business of educating the students in the Port Chester schools, 84% of who are black and/or Hispanic.
On November 11, the Port Chester School Boards Ethics Committee issued their report on Corbia, which seems to point the finger at Corbia’s guilt, but without the smoking gun of his device or Facebook account history.
According to the report, after weeks of delaying an interview or sharing his cell phone, (which Corbia claimed is the only device that he uses for Facebook) Corbia tells the school district attorney that “Over my dead body will I share this phone with anybody. I don’t even share this phone with my wife.”
Due to a lack of cooperation by Corbia, the report concludes that they were unable to determine if Corbia was hacked, or if he in fact shared the posts. He did share with the school district that he had brought his phone into Wireless World in Harrison, and that a technician “had his phone all day.”
“It is troubling that Mr. Corbia was aware that hacking was a crime…but he never reported any of the incidents to law enforcement,” states the report, which continues “Rather than denying that he shared the post with anyone, he (Corbia) stated that “he did not remember if he shared it with anyone.”
But at a Sept 17 Board meeting, Corbia said, “I want the public to know it wasn’t originated by me and it wasn’t forwarded or commented on by me.”
“We have great difficulty reconciling this glaring inconsistency,” stated the report, which concluded that “our overall impression was that Mr. Corbia’s responses were lacking in credibility,” and “some of his responses were deliberately evasive…. We find the lack of cooperation rather troubling.”
Here’s three Q&A’s with Corbia that led to a conclusion of lack of cooperation:
1-Will you agree to meet with T&M—Answer—No Comment
2-Will you agree to turn over your devices—Answer-I have turned over all school district devices. Never used school devices for Facebook.
3-Are you willing to authorize the school district to access your Facebook account. Answer—No Comment
We spoke to several former school board members, parents, taxpayers, and students, all who called for Corbia to present his devices, resign from the board, or have the school board force his removal. Former Port Chester School Board member Carolee Brakewood, who served with Corbia from 2010-2019, said she was not surprised by Corbia’s recent behavior. “This is not his first rodeo with misbehavior. He (Corbia) has exhibited a pattern of doing unethical things on the school board, and then getting away with it. And every time, there is outrage, but not enough to stop it or remove him.”
“But people are fired up now about the racist comments on his Facebook account, and at this point I can only assume he did in fact make the posts and was not hacked. Our school community is very diverse with 84% students of color – this is not the type of leadership we want in our schools. In other communities, public officials who have been caught making offensive or racist comments have been embarrassed by their own behavior or the resultant outrage, and have known enough to step down, but not him. Corbia looks you in the eye and says, “Over My Dead Body,” said Brakewood.
In addition to his duties as School Board President, and a member of the Port Chester Housing Authority, Corbia holds a job as “Community Work Assistant” for Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health, at a part-time salary of $59,200. The patronage job requirements are to serve in a community relations capacity and represent the department with constituents, advocacy groups and the general public.
Some have called for Corbia to be fired from his county post. Others in the Port Chester community want Corbia to provide his devices to investigators or pay for the fees that the taxpayers paid to the attorneys and IT company hired to investigate him if he wants to keep his post.
“Is the message here that you can say anything you want, just don’t cooperate and you can get away with it? I support the cost of the investigation, but I want justice. I consider it racist to disparage an entire class of people and think you are going to get away with it. The board has other educational concerns they need to work on. But I want him (Corbia) to know that we are not going away, and the only way to resolve this is to hand in your devices, step down, or be removed,” said Brakewood.
Port Chester High school senior Rahsheek Hill, created a petition calling for Corbia’s resignation, which has been signed by more than 1,750. “I have watched what he has said and did over the past six months, and I have no respect for him. He has constantly denied saying those things and hasn’t tried to clear his name. He should go, and a lot of students think the same way. Students as young as the 8th grade know what he said and have come up to me to say thanks for standing up to him, and parents say I appreciate what you are doing,” said Hill, the Senior Class President.
“His words are damaging, not only to me but to the entire community because we are such a diverse town and its embarrassing to have someone like him in a position of power and to say things like this. He doesn’t have the courage to accept responsibility and resign.”
Two members of the community group Port Chester United, commented on their continued quest for the truth, or resignation or Corbia. Mandy Ortiz, called Corbia’s comments “totally racist.” “We want him gone because its all about him. He refuses to step down after being asked by the Mayor and members of the school board to do so. We had a school board meeting online and for four hours, more than 40 Port Chester residents called on him to resign. The expression on his face during this meeting was smug, he doesn’t care and won’t step down. He continues to sit in meetings choosing the next superintendent. He has more rights than we do and it’s hurting our community.”
PC United member Keith Morlino said, “There is a pattern of bad behavior here. Tom Corbia passed on confidential information to undermine the school district in 2016 because he was jealous and had it out for the administration. Now, he has stalled this process, and if he wasn’t going to cooperate, he should have said it from day one. Now he has cost the district time and money, and no one can focus on anything else until it gets resolved. Everyone loses, because even if you don’t have kids in Port Chester our community’s reputation, and integrity, is at stake.”
The five-member school board is currently split, with two members generally not supporting Mr. Corbia as was the case in the One World vote, (Chris Wolff, and Lou Russo) and two board members supporting Corbia (Anne Capeci, Chrissie Onofrio).
Subsequent to the filing of the Ethics Committee report the Board hired the Gus Mountanos of the law firm Ingerman Smith to evaluate what charges could be brought against Mr. Corbia. That vote was 3 to 1 with Trustee Capeci dissenting. In early February, Gus Moutanos presented the charges to the board who voted 4 to 0 to accept charges which remain confidential.
Joe Carvin, another member of PC United, said that second 4 to 0 vote causes more concern that optimism. “I now think it is highly probably that Mr. Corbia skates free unless Port Chester residents, and all of Westchester, make clear they will not stand for these kinds of racist rants.
I do not think the good people of Port Chester understand how profoundly a vote to let Mr. Corbia skate free will impact our community both in real terms and in terms of perception. If the PC BOE gives him a slap on the wrist, Port Chester could become known as a community that accommodates racist remarks. What is clear to me is that there is no compromising with overt acts of racism and it seems to me that far too many in Port Chester are prepared to stay silent,” said Carvin.
Over the next two weeks, we will contact elected officials to see if they are aware of the allegations against Mr. Corbia, and if they wish to comment or take a position.
