POUGHKEEPSIE – Town of Fishkill Councilwoman Louise Daniele is asking the New York State Attorney General to launch an investigation into fellow Councilman John Forman. Daniele says her colleague, who is running for the town supervisor position on the Republican and Conservative lines has been committing fraud in addition to his recent arrest.
Forman was arrested on Tuesday by the East Fishkill Police and charged with misdemeanor criminal possession of stolen property after an “anti-Forman” campaign sign was found in his vehicle. (The breaking Mid-Hudson News story regarding the incident can be found here.) Forman was contacted by the police and admitted to having more signs that he didn’t own, stored at his house on McDonnells Lane near Sylvan Lake in Hopewell Junction. Forman said the arrest was the result of an “elaborate hoax” perpetrated by his opponent.
Daniele has been saying for months that Forman does not reside in Fishkill and has been defrauding the taxpayers by serving on the board in a town he does not live in. Many of the signs were recovered at Forman’s McDonnell’s Lane house in Hopewell Junction. Daniele asserts that Forman provided police with the McDonnells Lane address as his primary address and noted that his car is also registered to that address.
Forman has downplayed Daniele’s residency assertion and he says he rents a room in a house on Overlook Road in Fishkill. Councilwoman Daniele says she has asked Forman to provide a copy of the lease to prove he rents a room in Fishkill and none has been provided.
On Thursday Daniele filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office. She lists “Violation of Ethics Law and the Constitution of NY State” as the focal points of the complaint. The allegation is that Forman is breaking the law by serving on the town board of a town he does not reside in and he is committing fraud.
“He has fraudulently received Town of Fishkill taxpayer money as a salary since January 2022 – totaling $16,461 to date,” Daniele’s complaint says. “He has duped residents into believing he permanently resides in the Town of Fishkill when he instead showed the East Fishkill Police Department his true permanent residence where it has always been in East Fishkill.”
Daniele echoed her suggestion from Tuesday by calling for Forman to resign from the board. “It is demanded that an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office be done to have him pay the Fishkill residents back their taxpayer money that was paid to him in salaries he was not entitled to.”
Forman once again refuted his colleague’s accusation complete with his campaign message against Albra. On Thursday afternoon Forman answered a Mid-Hudson News inquiry about the complaint, saying, “I live, have lived, and continue to live in Fishkill. This is nothing but an attempt to distract voters from the fact that Ozzy Albra took over $68k from the town to pay for his own lawsuit, he has a completely dysfunctional relationship with our police department, and he’s tried to raise property taxes.”
Forman is slated to answer the misdemeanor charge in East Fishkill Justice Court on November 1. Judge Brian Rudner will likely recuse himself, resulting in the case being transferred to another court. Dutchess County District Attorney Bill Grady is asking the administrative judge in the Ninth Judicial District for permission to have his office recused and appoint a special prosecutor to the case.
