Finance Commissioner Quits During Probe Of Romantic Relationship

MARTHA STARK: Steps down under pressure.

Martha E. Stark resigned as city Finance Commissioner April 28 while under investigation on charges that her romantic relationship with a former subordinate began while the aide was still working for her.

While Mayor Bloomberg praised her in a statement for "the many reforms that Finance developed and implemented under her leadership," it appeared that he pushed her out of the job she held for more than seven years.

'Serve At Mayor's Pleasure'

Ms. Stark, who the New York Times reported had previously sent e-mail messages to subordinates that "rumors of my demise [are] greatly exaggerated," stated that she was stepping down because "I serve at the pleasure of the Mayor."

Deputy Finance Commissioner Michael Hyman, a 21-year veteran of the agency, has taken its helm on an acting basis.

Ms. Stark had encountered trouble recently on several fronts over issues that called into question her judgment. She permitted a Parking Violations Bureau judge who is married to her First Deputy Commissioner, Rochelle Patricof, to keep his job even after the Department of Investigation found that he billed the Finance Department for hours when he was not at work. The judge, Allan J. Patricof, claimed that he was working from outside the office on those occasions.

She also had received more than $134,000 for sitting on the board of a development corporation. Although the firm, Tarragon Corporation, did not do work in the city, Ms. Stark had apparently not informed the Mayor of that role.

Aide's Dramatic Rise At Issue

The most-serious charge, however, concerned when she began her relationship with Dara Ottley-Brown, who at the time of her 2006 departure was an Assistant Finance Commissioner. Over a period of less than three years, Ms. Ottley-Brown was promoted and her salary rose significantly, to more than $138,000.

The New York Post reported that Ms. Ottley-Brown's ex-husband, Jodie Brown, was hired as a Finance Department graphic artist at a salary of $78,000 shortly after he filed for divorce. Their daughter, Kiera, worked as an intern for the Finance Department at $7.50 an hour in 2005, and Ms. Stark also provided paid employment to several of her own relatives.

At the time of the Post revelations, Ms. Stark released a statement that, "I have not had a personal relationship with any subordinate." She also minimized the significance of the fact that "a small handful of the hundreds [of persons] hired by the department…have had some connection to me." She denied using her position "to obtain any advantage for any relative or personal relation."

Probes of when her relationship began with Ms. Ottley-Brown, who left the Finance Department for a slightly better-paying job with the Board of Standards and Appeals, are being conducted by the Department of Investigation and the Conflicts of Interest Board.