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August 15, 2017- by Steven E. Greer, MD
As viewers recall, BPTV sued the BPCA in August of 2015 for violating our First Amendment rights by retaliating against our coverage in the press. Former employee Kirk Swanson also filed a federal case at the same time for being fired for doing his oversight job and not acquiescing to corrupt contract rigging.
Today during the BPCA board meeting, they had to get additional money approved by the board to pay the law firm of Sher Tremonte, which was hired to defend the BPCA against BPTV. An additional $225,000 was approved, making the total spent to date $500,000.
However, before Sher Tremonte, there was a different law firm. The BPCA fired them because BPTV was apparently putting up an unexpectedly good fight. The amount paid to that firm was likely at least $200,000.
It is unknown how much has been spent to defend against the Kirk Swanson case.
In total, the cost to the BPCA to defend against plaintiffs suing the authority for corrupt retaliation is likely more than $1 Million. Both cases should have been settled after the motions to dismiss were lost.
Chairman Dennis Mehiel is wasting your taxpayer dollars to fund futile personal battles in court. The legal fees to date are approximately $76 for each of the 13,000 BPC residents.
Meanwhile, the BPCA board continues to be staffed with Cuomo cronies who do not live in BPC.