DA Charles (Joe) Hynes: An Ugly Exit From Brooklyn
Brooklyn is big and important. If Brooklyn were an independent city, it would have the fourth largest population in the United States. If Brooklyn were its own state, it would be the 35th largest. From 1990 until earlier this year, Charles "Joe" Hynes was the Brooklyn DA. He came into the office with a sterling reputation for courage and honesty. He was supposed to be the new broom that swept clean the muck of Brooklyn politics. Last year, many thought that he should take a well-deserved retirement after six terms as DA. Instead he attempted to hold on to his post for a 7th term. Losing that election seems like it will be the least of Hynes' worries. Six months later, Joe Hynes is in danger of losing much more than elections. The New York City Department of Investigations issued a stunning 27 page report documenting ethical violations by Hynes in his electoral campaign. He is almost certainly going to los his reputation and may lose his liberty as a felon. According to the DOI Report, Hynes set up his political consultant in a no show job, so that he could work full-time on Hynes' campaign. The scandal threatens to take down New York State Supreme Court Justice Barry Kamins, who (like Hynes) previously had an impeccable reputation for honesty and ethical behavior. Below the fold, you can read the sad details of Joe Hynes' exit. Hynes Put His Political Consultant On The DA Office's Payroll The most damning allegation against Hynes is that from 2012-13, he used New York State Asset Forfeiture money as a slush fund to pay his political consultant, Mortimer Matz, more than $200,000. Matz was given an office at the DA's Office and an official DA's Office e-mail account, ostensibly to work on "public relations and community service." The DOI's investigation determined, however, that Matz only worked on Hynes' campaign. Matz's e-mail unambiguously demonstrates that his only work was political. Matz's official e-mail account went largely unused. During the 18 months before the 2013 election, Matz averaged less than one email per week sent or received from his official e-mail account. and many of those e-mails were political, such as the purchase of political ads or the drafting of a letter seeking the New York Times' endorsement of Hynes re-election. Matz's personal e-mail account demonstrated that virtually all of the time that Matz billed to the DA's Office for "public relations and community service" was actually spent directing the Hynes reelection campaign. The DOI found over 1,200 e-mails between Hynes and Matz regarding every aspect of the re-election campaign. The DOI Report concludes that the payments to Matz "may implicate the larceny provisions contained in Article 155 of the Penal Code." Under Article 155, theft of more than $50,000 is a class C felony, which is punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment. Hynes And His Staff Used Official E-Mail For Campaign Purposes The DOI Report demonstrates that Joe Hynes and his staff routinely used their official e-mail accounts for campaign purposes. The DOI Report states that they found over 6,000 campaign e-mails dated in 2012 or 2013 sent to or from Hynes' official account. According to the DOI Report,under Section 2604 of the New York City Charter, the uses of official e-mail accounts for political purposes are "chargeable as unclassified misdemeanors." Justice Barry Kamins Acted As Hynes' Campaign Consigliere Justice Barry Kamins has been the most important administrator of the New York City courts for the last five years. He was the paragon of virtue who was expected to clean the Augean Stables of the New York criminal courts. As the DOI report states:
Judge Kamins was appointed on September 11,2008 by Mayor Bloomberg as a Justice of theCriminal Court of the City of New York. Since 2012, Judge Kamins has been the Administrative Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York; from 2009 to 2013, he was the Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters, Second Judicial District [Brooklyn Queens & Long Island]. He was most recently elected on November 6, 2012 as a Kings County Supreme Court Justice, and his current term expires in 2015. In 2014, the Hon. Jonathan Lippman, Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, appointed Judge Kamins as the Chief of Policy and Planning for the New York State Courts. In that role, Judge Kamins is responsible for working with judges throughout the state to study and develop polices and strategies to improve the delivery of justice in New York; he also oversees the New York City Criminal Court.
In 2013, Justice Kamins moonlit as Joe Hynes' political consultant, as shown in this e-mail exchange between Hynes and Kamins: HYNES: You are the new David Garth [the leading NYC political consultant in the 1970s & 1980s]. . . .
JUDGE KAMINS: Yes. I charge very little to be a consultant. My only request: standing next to you and Pat at the victory speech.
HYNES: The next time you will give me the honor of swearing me in as a Justice of the State Supreme Court.
Kamins also engaged in ex parte discussions with Hynes about the political implications of pending criminal cases where Kamins was responsible for selecting the presiding judge.
Judge Kamins begins the exchange by describing a call he had received from George Farkas, the defense attorney for Nechemya Webennan, a member of the Brooklyn Orthodox community who had been convicted of repeated sexual abuse of a minor. Judge Kamins tells Hynes, in relevant part:
George called. . .. Not to be repeated: he went into a tirade about the perception in the orthodox community that you (not me! I) picked [New York State Supreme Court Justice John] Ingram as the trial judge so that Weberman would not get a fair trial. He also said that he didn?t think that the community would vote for you on the election because of the Weberman and Yegotkin cases. I get this nagging feeling that George is repeating a lot of this to everybody as a result of his loss in the case. .
Hynes replies: He's nuts!
Following another comment from Judge Kamins, Hynes e-mails Judge Kamins, stating "Sadly, it has always been about George and holding on to his client base. His threat about my not getting the Satmar vote is pathetic."
Immediately after the publication of the DOI Report, Justice Kamins was relieved of all his administrative duties in the New York courts. CONCLUSION: The downfall of Joe Hynes and Barry Kamins has been swift and stunning. Hynes will be fortunate to escape criminal prosecution.