Ever Wonder Why Steve Israel Won't Let The DCCC Take On Pollution Avatar Fred Upton-- And Why He Recruits Pro-Pollution Democrats?

With Climate Change, energy policy and environmental protection shaping up as one of the most important cache of issues facing America's political elites, I've been trying to figure out why DCCC chairman Steve Israel would recruit so many awful candidates with views on the environment identical to Republicans. He has them keeping their mouths shut about it-- his "mystery meat strategy"-- but he's recruited shills for Big Coal like Jennifer Garrison in Ohio and a fracking enthusiast in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Kevin Strouse, where even Republicans are environmentally-conscious!

Israel himself is rated a respectable 84.85 on Renewal Energy issues and an 88.73 on Global Warming issues (both crucial votes over the course of his whole congressional career) by Progressive Punch. Good environmental candidates are over 90% and there are, for example, 107 Democrats in the House with better Renewable Energy scores than Israel, but, for a cop orate whore and a Blue Dog, he hasn't been that bad. But what about before he went to Congress?

After a series of dead-end jobs and failed election attempts, Israel finally managed to worm his way onto the Huntington Town Council in 1993. His best known for cynically persuading colleagues to vote for pay raises while taking the politically safer position of opposing them, according to a former town official, Joe DeVincent, and when he was named DCCC Chair, the NY Times described him as "an unassuming centrist from Long Island who once voted with President George W. Bush nearly half of the time and has barely made a mark after a decade in Congress. He had served on the Huntington Town Board until 2001 when he was elected to an open congressional seat. His time on the Board may go a long way towards explaining why he doesn't hesitate recruiting anti-environment candidates like Garrison and Strouse. Last week, a local paper announced that Cuomo has launched a criminal investigation into suspicious pollution activities by Israel and his colleagues on the Huntington Town Board.

Mr. William Perks was the Harbormaster and Hazardous Materials Coordinator for the Town of Huntington. For ten years, he asked that Ogden Martin Waste-to-Energy Incinerator be investigated for trucking and burning radiated waste. Despite evidence and eyewitness accounts, the request was repeatedly met with claims of no finding and attempts were made to caste blame on Mr. Perks.

At least that was until February 4th of this year when Peter Scully of the DEC informed Mr. Perks that the DEC was undertaking an “investigation of alleged criminal actions by the Town Board, Town of Huntington over the alleged illegal burning of radioactive waste in East Northport.” Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered the investigation.

It was in 2001 that Mr. Perks found out an Ohio Foundry received contaminated and radiated scrap from Huntington Town’s Ogden Martin (now called Covanta) Facility, the only plant on Long Island.

When the discovery was made, at least twenty-two truckloads were sent back to Ogden Martin in a few weeks time. Mr. Perks had no Hazmat gear to protect him from the dangerous colorless, odorless gas. He requested the equipment from the Town in several memos but the people in charge, Josephine Jahier and Phil Nolan, said they’d take it under advisement but added,  “it is none of your concern.”

As if that wasn’t enough, theses same people tried to blame him when the State Labor Board cited them. They said he didn’t keep records of exposure, that’s after telling him it was none of his business!

This went on for ten years. Official reports minimized the level of exposure and trucking manifests were missing key information.

Guess what the Town appears to have done.

The Town chose to re-introduce the contaminated material into the incinerator even though they had documents proving there was radiated materials present.

Oh what the heck! Right?

In 2004, the Town’s Attorneys, outside counsel, Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC in correspondence to Attorney General, C. Michael Higgins, in response to a request for information on employees’ exposure, said Perks was exposed to petroleum. Then after Perks retired, they said he should have kept track of the exposures that were “none of your concern.”

There is on the record dozens of complaints and grievances by Mr. Perks that were ignored, according to Freelance Investigations, and when Perks asked for a meeting, they sent him a letter saying, “Your concerns have been duly noted, but it is not your responsibility.”

There is plenty of evidence that there were at least 265 incidents of radioactivity at the plant.

There is even a letter from Town Board member, Susan Scarpati-Reilly stating that there was an issue with radiation at the plant as far back as 1994/1995.

A Lt. Lapinsky, who was involved in the case, told Perks, “You can’t prove any of it.” Lapinsky completed a formal, two-word report after his one-year investigation. It simply said, “Complaint Unfounded.”

The thoroughness is astounding!

Read the full story at freelance investigations.

So what's a few more Democratic pro-pollution members of the House Caucus to someone like Israel who will no doubt be found to have been lining his pockets in this escapade?