Politics on the Hudson

Tonight, Gov. Paterson issued a statement admitting that 60 percent of employees in the executive chamber have not had completed background checks, though he said they are not required.

Still, Paterson said that some of the employees’ records can not be located because of the transition between the Paterson and Spitzer administrations.

Top aide Charles O’Byrne was among those who had not had a completed background check, and Paterson said the only record that could be found on O’Byrne was a cover letter he wrote in January 2007 in which he mentions his tax problems and depression.

Read the letter here.

But Paterson said he later asked State Police to do an assessment of O’Byrne, and police found that his tax woes “did not compromise Mr. O’Byrne’s position in the chamber.”

Paterson said he has asked senior staff to set up a process for background checks in his office.

Here’s the statement:

As of today, I have been informed that nearly 60% of the employees in the Executive Chamber have not received completed background checks. Since these checks are not security clearances but were established by the Chamber for its own protection, the previous administration was in fact under no duty to conduct background checks at all.

The previous administration did commence these checks but we now know only a few of them have been completed and we are presently unable to locate much of the information submitted by employees in this office.

It should be noted, that the prior protocol which I inherited, does not provide for any notice to any employee that their check has been completed or was incomplete. Given that many employees submitted substantial amounts of information, I do not hold any individual employee responsible for knowing the status of his or her background check.

One of the individuals, whose original background check was not completed, was that of Charles O’Byrne. The only record we have located in regard to his background check is the cover letter he wrote to David Nocenti transmitting his background questionnaire which refers to his tax problems. This letter was written in January 2007.

In March 2008, I asked the State Police to conduct an assessment of Charles O’Byrne. This investigation references the information related to his tax situation. The State Police determined that this information did not compromise Mr. O’Byrne’s position in the Chamber.

I have directed First Deputy Secretary Sean Patrick Maloney, Deputy Secretary Michael Balboni and Commissioner of the Division of Criminal Justice Services Denise O’Donnell to now set up a process for background checks in this office.

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