MIXED NEWS ON LONG ISLAND IN NEW YORK

On 12 March, Bernard Madoff made off to the US District Court where US District Court Judge Denny Chin would hear his confession and remand Madoff pending sentencing, to accomodations less luxurious than those Madoff enjoyed while ensconsed in his $7 million dollar penthouse pending his 12 March court date.

We will soon see if Madoff's conduct does in fact amount to the largest fraud perpetrated upon the savvy, the novice, the amateur and even the unknowing as he continued to amass a fortune while rendering many virtual paupers once Madoff was 'discovered.' What took so long?

Is the Securities and Exchange Commission staffed by regulators in the mold of Inspector Cleauseau, Maxwell Smart, and Barnie Fife from Mayberry? Where were the regulators during the hey-day of the laissez-faire years of Bush II, even after they were alerted on numerous occasions by a gent raising a red flag, who was interviewed on SIXTY MINUTES on Sunday 8 March, 2009? While Madoff may have engineered the largest financial fraud in history, the largest fraud in terms of regulatory malfeasance lays square at the feet of the SEC and their staff. But do not fear. They suffer not in isolation.

The responsiblity of the respective committees in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives charged with oversight of executive and regulatory agencies such as the SEC were similarly negligent in not overseeing such entities during the times that the agencies themselves where charged with regulating the financial sector.

White collar crime is not a victimless crime. It is decidedly more sinister when the national and world economies are in free-fall due to malfeasance, nonfeasance, and simple negligence. A Member of Congress lambasting the regulators for negligence is about as credible as Inspector Renault, played by Claude Rains in CASABLANCA lamenting that he's "shocked, shocked I say to learn that there is gambling going on here," as the maitre d' of Rick's Cafe American hands Renault his "winnings Inspector."

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On the good news front here on Long Island, the Town of North Hempstead made a smart hire of a smart and savvy professional government expert when they pulled Evelyn Roth out of her five year retirement to head the new Town of North Hempstead Office of Senior Affairs. Roth comes to Town Hall in Manhasset with a resume that includes but is not limited to service as a Deputy County Executive for then Suffolk County Executive Pat Halpin, as well as service on the NYS Civil Service Commission, the NYS Consumer Protection Board, and other governmental agencies, and a private sector tenure devoted to philanthropic endeavors. The residents and particularly the constituency of this new department will be exceedingly well served by Commissioner Evelyn Roth. Kudos to the Town Council and Supervisor Jon Kaiman on this appointment!