"APPOINTED PUBLIC OFFICIAL CHIEF ACCUSED OF CRIMES"

Bridge Authority Gets New Director Nearly A Year After Scandal

April 17, 2004

ALBANY - George C. Sinnott, head of the state Department of Civil Service since 1995, has been appointed executive director of the state Bridge Authority.

Sinnott, a resident of Clifton Park in Saratoga County, replaces Jack Gaffney, who resigned last spring amid allegations that he used authority money for personal trips and improperly claimed hundreds of hours in compensatory time.

Sinnott's appointment was approved by the Bridge Authority's board of directors on Thursday and announced by Gov. George Pataki on Friday. It takes effect on Tuesday.

The Bridge Authority oversees the operation of five Hudson River crossings: the Rip Van Winkle, Kingston-Rhinecliff, Mid-Hudson, Newburgh-Beacon and Bear Mountain bridges.

"Commissioner Sinnott is an outstanding public administrator, having served the people of New York with distinction ... for the last nine years," Pataki said in a prepared statement. "I am pleased that George will now be a key member of our transportation team. ... The Bridge Authority will benefit immensely from his tremendous experience."

Pataki's eight-paragraph statement did not mention Gaffney or the scandal that brought him down.

Gaffney, appointed by Pataki in 1997, was accused in a report issued last summer by the state Inspector General's Office of using $24,750 in Bridge Authority money for personal trips to Florida, California, Texas, Hawaii and Japan. The report also stated Gaffney improperly claimed weekend work that allowed him to receive $32,000 in unused annual leave and $2,400 in unused sick time; and ran up $80,000 in credit card expenses during his six years at the authority's helm.

The Inspector General's Office also said the Bridge Authority's board was complicit in the abuses because in 1998, less than a year after Gaffney was appointed, it gave Gaffney the authority to approve his own expenses.

Gaffney resigned just before the inspector general's report was made public. His salary at the time was $137,700 per year.

Sinnott will be paid $140,000 per year, nearly $20,000 more than he was marking at Civil Service.

Daniel Wall of Guilderland will succeed Sinnott at Civil Service, Pataki said.

Ulster County District Attorney Donald A. Williams has said he will begin a grand jury investigation later this month to determine whether Gaffney should face criminal charges.

Williams has jurisdiction in the case because the Bridge Authority's main office in the Ulster County town of Lloyd.