Former Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas requested for a pardon from Gov. Kathy Hochul in a 537 web page letter.
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A former Westchester County mayor convicted on expenses he stole marketing campaign funds is asking for a full pardon from Gov. Kathy Hochul, The Publish has realized.
Richard Thomas, Mount Vernon’s mayor from 2016-19, despatched a conspiracy-filled letter dated Tuesday claiming the probe that led to his responsible plea and ouster from workplace was improperly launched by high-ranking state officers who wished him out of the best way.
The letter is 537 pages lengthy with numerous attachments, together with memes, visible aids like a photograph of the Invoice of Rights hanging in his previous workplace — and political cartoons depicting him illustrated by a former employees member.
Thomas defended the size of his request, saying “there’s no shortcut” to explaining his house metropolis’s issues with corruption and the way he ended up a sufferer.
“This case can't match right into a TikTok,” Thomas informed The Publish. “We’re seeking to the governor to handle this and actually repair Mount Vernon, repair the issue and hopefully repair me – as a result of I used to be unnecessarily damaged by highly effective forces that wished to maintain spending Mount Vernon’s cash.”
The ex-mayor, who by no means did time behind bars as a part of his responsible plea, mentioned he feels vindicated by a scathing audit launched by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli final month. It concluded one Thomas rival in Metropolis Corridor issued hundreds of thousands via unauthorized digital funds and didn’t pay some obligations on time, or in any respect.
However nonetheless Thomas blames DiNapoli and the state lawyer normal’s workplace for not heeding his calls to probe former metropolis Comptroller Deborah Reynolds and different points within the metropolis of 70,000 years in the past when he claimed to be sounding the horn. In one of many cartoons hooked up to his letter, Thomas is depicted utilizing a weedwacker labeled “fact, justice, transparency” and chopping down weeds and corruption whereas snakes lunge at him.
A spokesperson for DiNapoli famous the workplace has performed a number of audits of the struggling metropolis’s books.
“The previous mayor pled responsible to a number of misdemeanors and admitted in courtroom to stealing about $13,000 from his marketing campaign,” Communications Director Jennifer Freeman informed The Publish. “Our workplace has performed a number of monetary and operational audits through the years of town, together with one launched just some weeks in the past. The present mayor and metropolis council have agreed with our findings and proposals and are performing on them.”
Thomas was the youngest mayor in Mount Vernon historical past when he took workplace at age 33 in 2016 however two years into his first time period he was arrested and slapped with a slew of expenses together with felony grand larceny. His 2019 responsible plea on misdemeanor expenses, together with his admitting that he improperly spent $12,900 from his marketing campaign committee and agreeing to depart workplace.
He mentioned he agreed to the plea to guard his household and keep away from the potential for jail time. However since his conviction, he has chalked up the fees to clerical errors that he ought to have been capable of right with out felony expenses. Thomas had tried unsuccessfully to get a courtroom to toss out his case when former state Lawyer Normal Eric Schneiderman resigned amid a sex-abuse scandal, saying the workplace lacked jurisdiction.
Thomas can also be asking Hochul to pardon former high aide and Mount Vernon metropolis lawyer Lawrence Porcari, who was sentenced to 1 to three years behind bars for utilizing $360,000 in cash from town Board of Water Provide to pay for Thomas’ attorneys and a public relations agency after the ex-mayor’s arrest, The Journal Information reported.
Porcari’s case is on enchantment and he isn’t a signee to the letter, which is addressed to Hochul and the Government Clemency Bureau of the state Division of Corrections and Neighborhood Supervision, which might assessment the appliance and ahead it to the governor if the request is discovered to be eligible.
“What occurred to us was improper and was retaliation from bigger, darker, soiled political forces,” Thomas wrote in his letter. “A pardon can start the method of restoring our good names and giving us one other shot at residing a standard life … It would additionally present that your Administration means to take motion and never content material itself with empty rhetoric of fresh and moral authorities.”
A Hochul spokesperson mentioned the workplace couldn’t talk about the precise utility from Thomas.
“Whereas we can't touch upon pending clemency functions as the method is confidential, Governor Hochul is dedicated to bettering justice, equity, and security within the felony justice system, and we're reviewing functions on this context,” mentioned Hazel Crampton-Hays, a spokesperson for Hochul.
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