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Sought Job Help for Son: Fine HRA Manager Over Vendor Favor Sought Job Help for Son
Joseph Okowitz, a 38-year employee at HRA, asked a vice president of CMA Consulting Services Inc. who was based in Albany whether he knew of any job openings in that area that his son, who worked in the vicinity, might find suitable. Mr. Okowitz, as Director of his unit in the Management Information Systems division of HRA, gave final approval to payment requests from CMA. Offered Job At HRA In an affidavit that was part of the settlement, Mr. Okowitz said that the unnamed vice president offered to review his son's resume and subsequently called him in for a job interview. In May 2004, the firm's executive offered Mr. Okowitz's son a job, not in Albany but as a Spanish translator in HRA's Manhattan headquarters under a CMA contract with the agency. Mr. Okowitz said he contacted HRA's Office of Legal Affairs to ask whether his son taking the position would create a conflict of interest for himself. An attorney from that office, after discussions with the city Conflicts of Interest Board, told Mr. Okowitz that he would have to relinquish his responsibility for CMA contracts if his son took the job. Mr. Okowitz persuaded his son to decline the offer. But he acknowledged that asking for help from a vendor he oversaw represented a violation of the sections of the City Charter that prohibit public servants from trying to obtain any benefit for themselves or persons associated with them, and engaging in business transactions that conflict with the proper discharge of their official duties. Commissioner Verna Eggleston issued a statement that "HRA employees must always be mindful of the guidelines for appropriate behavior and avoid conflicts of interest."
Employees with questions about the city's
conflicts-of-interest laws should call the Conflicts of Interest Board at (212)
442-1400.R.S. |
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