The trustees of the Queens Public Library have scheduled an emergency meeting for Thursday night to remove their controversial director Thomas Galante, while also granting him more than $800,000 in a golden parachute consulting deal, the Daily News has learned.
Word of the hastily scheduled meeting prompted Public Advocate Letitia James, an ex-officio member of the library’s board, to request State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who regulates non-profit organizations, to join her in seeking a court order to halt the proposed vote.
In a letter late Wednesday to Schneiderman, a copy of which the News obtained, James blasted the trustees’ attempt “to reward the current President with an employment contract that is too favorable in terms, or that will provide him with assets of the Library upon his departure or removal.”
Under the proposed deal, Galante would resign the $392,000-a-year chief executive post he has held for 10 years, and would be given instead a consultant job until July 31 on an “as needed basis” - at a salary of $407,876, said two trustees who were briefed on the deal.
Then on Aug. 1, Galante would begin a two-year consulting job for the library at $386,779 annually. He would also be paid an additional $50,000 on Aug. 1, 2015.
UPDATE: The meeting was canceled.
14 comments:
So we'd have to pay $386,000 a year for his "consulting" PLUS $392,000 year for the next incompetent to fill the director role?
You know it's bad when the populist idiots like Tish James come in as the voice of reason.
Only $800,000? that parachute is not so golden!
Too bad the city's "Public Advocate" can't "advocate" the state's Attorney General to halt the vote on illegal immigrant ID's.
What does BP Melinda Katz have to say about this?
In all fairness, anon #3, Katz wanted him to bow out with whatever dignity he could salvage:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/thomas-galante-leave-queens-library-melinda-katz-article-1.1741180
I like how Mystery Man Gianaris, submitted legislation in that other paragon of virtue, Albany, to protect the library board and not have them resign en mass as Tony suggested they should have.
Two years from now it will be business as usual.
But I still hear of disturbing whispers about money laundering - which I dismiss as scuttlebutt as all of you should, too.
As to Katz, when she came out swinging against Tony's bill we knew were her interests are.
The fact of the matter is the library board is the perfect symbol of this borough's elite and their value system.
If you want to change things, the first thing is for them to go.
Looking forward to the time that Van Bramer gets sucked into this.
oh, sorry, guess that is not the right wording.
Seriously, what a complete and utter joke.
How does he have this much power or influence on his Board? You'd figure they would be shunning him by now, with the amount of bad publicity, newspaper articles, pending investigations etc. Are they all family members or does he have incriminating photos of each of them?
This goon has to go..... (minus parachute)
$ amount of kickbacks to Board?
Cuomo signed the bill into law allowing the Mayor and BP to remove trustees, so maybe Katz can immediately remove the obstructionist ones before they give Galante his golden parachute at tonight's meeting.
This goon has to go.....
This goon is a product of the library trustees toxic culture, which, in turn, a product of the Queens civic, political and cultural culture.
Things are not going to change because house cleaning is always selective and half hearted, and the Queens numbskulls always return the same knuckleheads to office.
I think this is a good thing because it serves to hollow out the empty suits that try to dictate this city (and ourselves).
Let these stunts keep coming. The public may still bow and scrape when they walk into the room but its increasingly with a smirk on our faces.
They are all show and when they lose our confidence and our respect things will change.
after all the meetings and eventual ouster of this hedonistic piece of shit and the easy life he will have,might as well name the central branch after him and erect a statue of him in front.not in a suit but in robes with his gut hanging out with his phallic cigar in his mouth and money stacks surrounding him .if not there then the city can place it where the civic virtue statue used to be.
actually you can take the two demonic babes from the old statue and have galante lying between them.
this is the standard in the state of NY.
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