No Friends

Mike Conners trying to be cool and up-to-date signed up for 30 Boxes, an online service like myspace or facebook. He put the link on his web site and invited people to join.

Poor Mike. He doesn't have any buddies.

These are the audits? Just dust and smoke.

So Mike Conners now tells us he answered the FOIL request for his audits.

What he delivered was a box of papers. But the FOIL request was for a list of audits. Just a simple list so County resources would not be needlessly dedicated to pulling files that are not important. Hell, if he were organized he could have produced a list in 10 minutes. But no, he had staff plowing through the County archives.

He is obscuring the fact that he has no list of audits, and has not completed audits for basic County processes in years, if ever. Piles of boxes that took the Comptroller over a month to find and retrieve from the County's Hall of Records is a typical delay tactic--bury what was asked for in materials that were not needed.

Dust and smoke.

Mike Conners. Still Taking Republican Money

The Colonie Republican Committee’s July 2007 financial disclosure report includes a $250.00 contribution to “Conners for Comptroller.” The check was reportedly written on June 25. Conners campaign recorded the receipt of a donation in the same amount, and bearing the same check number on June 26. However, the Conners disclosure report listed the donor as “Harold Dagostino”, the chairman of the Republican Committee, rather than the committee itself.

Is crazy Mike or someone trying to hide the true source of this campaign contributions? Maybe. Maybe even probably. But there's no doubt he's still taking Republican money. And now he's doing it while running in a Democratic primary.

He should have kept his promise and run as a Republican. Independent? No. Just a Republican in disguise, afraid to run as his true self.

What has Mike Conners done and not done - Part 2 - Accounting

In the last comment, we noted the unprofessional way in which Mike Conners does the job of auditor.

How does he do as accountant?

We went to his website and read his "State of the Fisc" for several years. When we pulled up his "State of the Fisc" for 2006. And what did we find? (Click the picture for an enlarged view).

His basic arithmetic is off. Sometimes it's off by $2. Sometimes it's off by millions.

Sloppy.

It looks like it was done by some kid pulling an all-nighter to start and finish a school project.

Unprofessional.

Read it yourself and check the arithmetic yourself.

What has Mike Conners done and not done - Part 1 - Audits

Done right, most of a Comptroller does is quiet attention to detail. It is plowing carefully through documents, making sure the numbers are properly entered and that they add up accurately. It requires patience.

What are the key parts of the job? Auditing, accounting, and approving expenditures. How has Mike Conners done each? Start with auditing.

Auditing?

When he first ran for Comptroller, Mike Conners promised regular audits of county departments. Now he can’t even produce a list of audits, much less the audits themselves. What’s the record show?

• Albany was frozen out of the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant until HUD received delinquent yearly audits of federal funding it received in 1999 and 2000. (Schenectady Gazette, October 3, 2002).


• In 1997, Conners failed to provide the required audit to the New York State Department of Transportation. He even failed to respond to inquiries from the Department of Transportation.


• In 1999, Conners failed to provide the required audit to the New York State Office of Mental Health.


• In 1999, Conners failed to provide the required audit to the New York State Department of Health.


• In 1999, Conners failed to provide the audit required by the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.


• When Conners did look at the Albany County Nursing Home and criticized the County Executive for his oversight, John Jay Feeney, a financial consultant found that Conners' audit did not conform to standard auditing procedures (Gazette, March, 2002) and did not follow established professional standards to ensure accuracy (Times-Union, March 2002)

Has Conners ever audited any of these?

• Community college tuition ($7,800,000 this year)
  


• Spending by elected officials like the Sheriff ($14,794,915), or the Sheriff's Correctional Facility ($38,471,753) or the the DA ($5,732,720) or the County Clerk?


• The Civic Center? He did want to sell it, even at a loss back in 1994 (Times-Union, 8/23/1994 and 9/5/1994). Now that's it's making money, where is he?

If he has audited these programs, where are the results?

Mike Conners can't seem to find his old audits. How about any recent ones? Can he give anyone a copy of an audit that meets professional standards that he's done in the past year?

Who does Mike Conners really watch out for?

From the Albany Times-Union
Section: CAPITAL REGION
Page: B1
Date: Friday, November 14, 1997

SIDELINED AFTER GAME, CONNERS FILES A CLAIM
KATE GURNETT Staff writer

Pride. Teamwork. That's what County Comptroller Michael Conners had in mind when he gathered a group of co-workers for a basketball game. Instead, all Conners got was an injury. Then surgery.

And now he's filed a claim for workers' compensation.

[snip]

Conners filed the claim last week for the ruptured right biceps tendon he suffered in an ``intra-departmental basketball game'' Oct. 24 at St. Vincent Community Center. [snip] Conners said he filed the claim on the advice of his attorney. ``He told me that to be safe that I should notice them, because there's the potential that I might have the medical portion denied by Blue Cross and Blue Shield,'' Conners said. Conners, who oversees the county's financial affairs, said he organized the court match as an ``intergenerational esprit de corps'' for 10 employees. The game pitted employees over 40 against the younger set.

So was the game, held after business hours, a work activity? ``That's an insurance company issue,'' Conners said Thursday.

[snip]

A basketball injury, even involving co-workers, is ``a disability, not workers' compensation,'' said Adrian Gruber, assistant workers' compensation examiner for the state Workers' Compensation Board. An employee must be performing work duties when injured for workers' compensation coverage, Gruber added.

Watchdog? Watching out for number one.

Mike Conners spends Republican money to trash Democrats

Just a short time ago, Mike Conners ran for the Senate as a Republican

From the Troy Record
Talespin
9/06/2004

Albany Comptroller Michael Conners is out of the gate with both guns blazing, already on television with what he says is $98,800 worth of advertisements and in newspapers with advertising.

The first round of television spots, produced by his daughter's boyfriend Kurt Lustgarten, is an edgy introductory piece that fits Conners unconventional run for state Senate.

[snip]

"Does it really matter which party line someone is running on when there isn't any difference between the parties to begin with?" he asked of the Republicans.

No difference? Ask Joe Bruno, Ask George Pataki, Ask George Bush.

And don't forget to ask Carl McCall, the Democrat who beaten by George Pataki. And don't forget to ask Al Gore and John Kerry.