Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

Clarkstown wants a federal judge to hear Police Chief Michael Sullivan's legal action seeking to lift his suspension on what his legal team calls bogus disciplinary charges by Supervisor George Hoehmann.

Hoehmann and his Clarkstown Town Board supporters have accused Sullivan of nearly two dozen disciplinary charges, including insubordination for not immediately transferring a sergeant off a special crime-prevention unit run by the Rockland District Attorney's Office.

The detective sergeant, Stephen Cole-Hatchard, who has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town over his transfer, had uncovered $218,000 in campaign donations to Hoehmann and the Republicans by a dismissed officer, Michael Garvey, who is seeking reinstatment, back pay and health benefits.

Sullivan, a 33-year veteran who became chief in 2011, also is accused of 15 charges of allowing improper investigations and surveillance by the special investigative unit, as well as failing to file annual ethics forms outlining his and his family's financial interests. Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said Friday the unit doesn't do surveillance or criminal investigations but monitors social media looking for potential crimes and actions like suicides, and profiles at the request of law enforcement.

Clarkstown's special prosecutor William Harrington asked that Sullivan's legal action go before a federal judge.

Sullivan's lawyer, Richard Glickel, filed the legal action in state Supreme Court in New City and opened the door by arguing the town violated the chief's freedom of speech by trying to sanction him for defending his actions on Facebook concerning a lawsuit when Hoehmann's staff criticized how the previous administration handled another dismissed officer's case.

"The chief raised federal constitutional claims in his lawsuit, which belong in federal district court and allowed us the right to move it there," Harrington said.

Glickel said the legal action he filed could stay in state court or be moved to federal court. Regardless of the court, Glickel has said the town's charges are "baseless" and that town officials targeted Sullivan to divert attention from their own misconduct. The Town Board suspended Sullivan in late July.

Cole-Hatchard charges in his lawsuit that Hoehmann had him transferred from the special unit back to the Clarkstown detective bureau to silence him and hide from the public the campaign money donated by Garvey to Hoehmann and the Rockland Republican Party through Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino's Reform Party.

The contributions were funneled through Garvey's Delaware incorporated Institute for Municipal Safety Research LLC that would be spent to help Hoehmann unseat Alexander Gromack, a Democrat whose ethics filings were among documents and town records subpoenaed by the the U.S. Attorney's Office in a separate case.

Hoehmann has declined to discuss the donations dating to October. He and the town refute the allegations made by Sullivan and Cole-Hatchard. Garvey has not returned calls for comment.

Sullivan acknowledged in his lawsuit that in January he reported to Zugibe what he considered to be collusion to violate the state Public Trust Act between Hoehmann and Garvey because there was a desire to reinstate Garvey so that he could qualify for a 20-year pension. Zugibe informed Hoehmann of the chief's belief and the lawsuit contends that the disciplinary charges were in retaliation for Sullivan blowing the whistle.

Hoehmann, soon after winning election as supervisor, asked Sullivan why there was no civil service list providing for his successor. In late December,a Clarkstown personnel clerk forwarded a request to the Rockland Personnel Department to schedule a March exam for police chief, even though the 53-year-old Sullivan had no plans of retiring.

Hoehmann, when he took office as supervisor, had the town's civilian computer specialist provide him with emails sent by town employees, like Sullivan and Cole-Hatchard, who provided emailed updates on the unit's activities and corresponded with a reporter about Garvey's alleged donations. Previously, a police officer handled sensitive law enforcement-related emails, which contain the names of suspects, crime victims and other details of cases.

The town charges against Sullivan claim he allowed the Strategic Investigations Unit, led by Cole-Hatchard, to commit illegal electronic surveillance and unconstitutional profiling of county citizens, as well as members of other law enforcement agencies and the local judiciary which the police department deem political rivals.

Zugibe said the five-member unit - two officers and three analysts - is under his office's command and does not do surveillance or criminal investigations, as described by Clarkstown.

No date has been set for a disciplinary hearing. The Sullivan legal action and the move seeking to transfer the case to federal court could delay a hearing for months. Sullivan could face dismissal from his job, which pays $278,161 annually to run the county largest department of 162 officers and 24 civilian employees.

Twitter: @lohudlegal