YALIS condemns Yonkers IG’s report
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- October
- 30
The board of the Yonkers Alliance for Latino and Immigrant Services (YALIS) condemned Yonkers Inspector General Philip Zisman’s critical report accusing board members, who are also city employees, of mismanaging the charity.
Former board member and Mayor Phil Amicone’s special assistant Lorraine Lopez is accused in the report of filing misleading and inaccurate reimbursement documents with the city’s Planning Department and Zisman has forwarded his findings about her actions to the city’s ethics board.
Most of Zisman’s criticisms of YALIS board members involve their shoddy record-keeping, failure to repay a city loan for years, non-payment of state workers compensation and unemployment insurance, poor oversight of cash receipts and the filing of apparently misleading reimbursement paperwork with the city.
YALIS provides immigration counseling and social service referrals out of a small office on Ludlow Street.
Representing the YALIS board, Lopez accused Zisman of mishandling the investigation and she’s calling for the city ethics board to investigate him.
“While Zisman’s investigatory report on YALIS and subsequent follow-up memoranda point out some legitimate problems at YALIS, the methods used by Zisman would be graded an F by any first-grade teacher,” wrote Lopez, criticizing Zisman for not including a final memo from YALIS in his report.
Lopez mostly faults Zisman for possibly violating civil service rules regarding YALIS board member Anthony Piacente, another city employee who with Lopez is deemed most culpable of mismanagement
“Zisman’s report and the subsequent memoranda are riddled with innuendo, inconsistencies and cover-ups of shoddy, unprofessional work,” wrote Lopez. “YALIS will be requesting that the City of Yonkers Ethics Board look into his investigation to determine if Zisman’s errors and failures were due to extremely poor judgment or unethical be design.”
This entry was posted
on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 5:51 pm by egarcia.
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The arrogance is beyond belief. These folks take taxpayer money, doled out by politicians in the interest of keeping themselves in office, and when all the shoddy and outrageous use of that money is questioned by a bona- fide investigator, they want HIM investigated. When all is said and done, all will be swept into a dark corner and it will be backs to business as usual. This is our future, ladies and gentlemen. We are going backwards and rapidly.
Lopez is clearly using the nostrum that the best defense is a good offense—especially one that obfuscates the issues raised in the audit. Nowhere does she state that the substance of the audit is untrue. Shame on her and her board.
C’mon Lorraine… we all know you didn’t write that. Stop stealing taxpayer monies and go back to where you came from.
Lopez should explain the envelopes filled with cash. I hope some sort of investigative unit reads this. Friggin thief
Is she shameless or what? No wonder Amicone wants to get rid of this guy Zisman. Half his staff will wind up in jail.
Looks like she is a dirty thief. And a not particularly smart one at that.