City investigators claimed at a hearing Monday that they never would have learned that a Department of Education official who was busted for seeking sex with a teenager was accused of misconduct at a previous job — because he lied on disclosure forms.
But that explanation seemed a little too convenient for at least once city councilman in charge of oversight.
Former DOE Deputy Chief of Staff David Hay signed a nondisclosure agreement with his prior employer, the Kettle Morain School District, over his failure to comply with licensing requirements and misuse of a district credit card for personal use, Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett testified at the Council oversight hearing Monday.
Then Hay lied on a DOE application form and a Dept. of Investigation background check about his past, Garnett said. Her agency is responsible for vetting high-ranking city employees like Hay.
The DOI admits it had only partially completed Hay’s background check, because he was part of a backlog of 5,122 applications. But Garnett insisted that “derogatory information about Mr. Hay would likely not have been shared with either DOE or DOI in any event” because of the NDA and the alleged perjury.
Still, DOI has now prioritized background checks for all assistant commissioners to “ensure that a long delay like that in the Hay situation will not recur,” Garnett said.
Councilman Ritchie Torres, chair of the oversight committee, didn’t buy Garnett’s excuse that Hay would have made it through the vetting process.
“That strikes me as convenient speculation, but one one knows for sure if that’s true,” Torres said.
“If we had asked Mr. Hay, ‘Did you have a nondisclosure agreement?’ and he confirmed, ‘Yes,’ then that would have been a red flag that would have disqualified him from being hired,” Torres told reporters after the hearing.
“I have to imagine no chancellor would appoint as deputy chief of staff a person who has an NDA which is a red flag for anyone,” he said.
Hay was first hired in 2016 to work as a special assistant for then-DOE chancellor Carmen Fariña. Her predecessor, current Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza promoted Hay to his inner circle in October 2018. His promotion trigged the DOI background check.
Hay was fired immediately after his arrest last year. His attorney did not return a message seeking comment.
Garnett admitted that her process doesn’t include asking job applicants if they’ve signed NDAs with past employers, even though she acknowledged those deals would warrant further investigation.
She also said that DOI also doesn’t ask applicants if they’ve been accused of sexual misconduct, because the agency’s primary concern is thwarting corruption.
Kevin O’Brien, a former top aide to Mayor de Blasio, was hired in 2016 just after being fired from a previous post at the Democratic Governors Association in Washington, DC, following sexual harassment allegations. He was canned by the city in 2017 for alleged sexual harassment of two city staffers.
O’Brien, too, had submitted DOI background forms that failed to list the previous allegations.
“DOI’s refusal to inquire about sexual misconduct, to inquire about NDAs is out of touch with the Me Too movement,” Torres told reporters after the hearing.
“Those are relevant facts to know about a person and if you have a history of engaging in sexual misconduct or using NDAs to conceal your sexual misconduct or your abuse of power, the City of New York has a right to know that,” said Torres.
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February 25, 2020 at 08:24AM
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City investigators say DOE official accused of sex crime lied on application - New York Post
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