In Delaware County, ethical violations are charged (only when misconduct is revealed in a bad court case) only against the lowest-level workers. Old boys who mastermind fraud remain untouched.

Walton Reporter announced a "press-release" today allegedly made by Delaware County Department of Social Services - which I never found anywhere on the website of Delaware County Department of Social Services - indicating that social worker since 2000 and County employee since 1992 Carolyn Massey was suspended without pay and then resigned after a settlement in Delaware County Surrogate's Court in the matter of Estate of Accardi.

Records of Delaware County Surrogate's Court are public and anybody who is interested can come to the Surrogate's Court at 3 Court Street, Delhi, NY and view open records on the court's computer.

Delhi attorney James Hartmann who was recently involved in fraud upon the court in the Mokay case (obtained legal fees for the Estate of Andrew Mokay for the period of time when the Estate was not a party in the proceeding, from June 2007 to March 2008) was trying to "do the right thing" in the Accardi case where social worker Carolyn Massey "guided" the hand of an elderly individual writing a will that allegedly gave:

• a benefit to social worker Carolyn Massey and
• a power of attorney to former Commissioner Moon, which the former Commissioner used to sell the testator's house

There are no publications indicating that either Massey or Moon were criminally charged.

While Massey, an ordinary caseworker, was suspended without pay and then was forced into resignation, William Moon, according to the same article in Walton Reporter, was allowed to quietly retire and is now employed with Sullivan County Department of Social Services, even though William Moon was also caught in self-dealing of County-foreclosed properties.

The article also indicates that allegedly judicial candidate and Delaware County Attorney Porter Kirkwood claimed that Delaware County has an ethical code, and that all county employees are required to comply with it.

 Porter Kirkwood was quoted by Walton Reporter to say the following:

       "A standard of conduct clause prohibits employees from soliciting, 

        accepting or receiving a gift which has a value of $25 or more, whether 

        in the form of money, services, loan, travel, entertainment, etc, in which 

        it could reasonably be inferred that the gift was intended to influence 

        them or could reasonably be expected to influence them in the performance 

        of their official duties or was intended as a reward for any official action on 

        their part. The ethics policy also prohibits employees from holding any 

        investment directly or indirectly in any financial business, commercial 

        or other private transaction, which creates a conflict with his official duties.

Apparently, Porter Kirkwood did not follow his own Code of Ethics when he represented several private parties, on County time, sued for elder abuse - a representation that ran contrary to Porter Kirkwood's duties as an attorney representing Delaware County Department of Social Services who was supposed to FIGHT elder abuse, not DEFEND it.

That's a situation when one does not need to practice what he preaches?

And, the chief of the Board of Supervisors James Eisel who should be investigated for allowing awards of $129.6 mln of public contracts without public bidding - and that's only what the State Comptroller's report says as a result of an audit of only one year's contracts - reportedly withdrew the revision of the Code of Ethics promised to the State Comptroller for "further revisions".

For a person who is clearly devoid of any ethics to delay introduction of new ethical code because he is revising that ethical code?

Not funny, really.