The Rockland County Republican Committee today announced that it has turned over secret videotapes and audio recordings to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) that demonstrate the type of local political corruption that has been rife in New York State in recent years.

The tapes were made by Rockland County legislator Frank Sparaco (R), a Valley Cottage native, who was alternately offered bribes and threats to coerce him into helping a Democratic candidate Dennis Malone obtain third party ballot lines for the office of Clarkstown Highway Superintendent. Clarkstown is one of the largest towns in New York State with a population exceeding 84,000. Mr. Sparaco was believed to hold sway among voters in both the Working Families Party and Independence Party from years of door-to-door canvassing in his campaigns for the county legislature.

Mr. Sparaco, a U.S. Navy combat veteran, immediately reported the bribe attempts and threats of political assassination to Rockland County Republican Chairman Vincent D. Reda, who, together with legal counsel, recommended that Mr. Sparaco record the meetings as proof of what was happening. Mr. Sparaco — who was twice patted down for wires during the exchanges — turned the completed tapes over to the FBI, which is investigating the matter.

“Frank Sparaco did a heroic thing in creating these tapes,” Chairman Reda said. “He put his personal safety and political career on the line to do what was right for the people of New York State who are fed up with the crooked backroom deals that have made a mockery of our electoral process. The Republican committee will continue to work with law enforcement in doing our part to preserve the integrity of Rockland County.”

The alleged plot was hatched in a clumsy effort to remove long-time Clarkstown Highway Superintendent Wayne Ballard (R) from office and replace him with Democrat Dennis Malone. Mr. Ballard is an engineer widely respected in his field. The leader of the alleged plot was Republican Clarkstown town councilman Frank Borelli who could use his position as councilman, in a violation of the public trust, to affect the salary and position Mr. Sparaco would receive in a new administration.

Councilman Borelli, Rockland County Democratic Party attorney Larry Weissman, and Malone are featured on the tapes effectively offering Mr. Sparaco, among other things, a $70,000 raise — in salary and benefits — at the Clarkstown Highway Department, where he currently works part-time without benefits, if he would take a “vacation” for the month of July to either Florida or the New Jersey Shore. July is the month in which petition signatures are gathered by political parties, and Sparaco, a local petitioning expert, is considered vital to the process. Councilman Borelli indicated that he could arrange payment for that vacation. Borelli and Weissman also suggest on the tapes that Mr. Sparaco would suffer a public smear tactic campaign if he would not go along with the plot.

Mr. Weissman implicates Rockland Democratic Party Chairwoman Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky in the plot by stating that she was in agreement with the arrangements.

“So you are 100%, right now, giving your word that if I agree to this, I’ll sit down with Kristen [Zebrowski Stavisky], of course, but you believe Kristen [Zebrowski Stavisky] is 100% behind this idea,” Mr. Sparaco asks. “Absolutely,” Mr. Weissman replies. In a subsequent conversation, Mr. Malone says that Zebrowski Stavisky “knows for sure” about the arrangements.

Mr. Weissman and Councilman Borelli also make it clear in there conversations that Mr. Malone is unqualified to serve in the position of Highway Superintendent and that they would be creating a foreman’s position in a Malone Administration as a patronage job for someone they describes as “stupid,” a “lug guy,” “a guy who hangs on and gets you coffee, ah, is a soldier.”

“My integrity is not for sale. Political corruption in New York is occurring at every level and I could not stay silent as I saw it unfolding before me,” Mr. Sparaco said of his decision to video tape the bribe attempt. “Americans are losing faith in their institutions because of sleazy deals like that one I was offered and we cannot stand for it. The people of Rockland deserve better, and I am proud that, together with chairman Reda and counsel, we were able to do something about it.”

Mr. Reda said that after word of the video tapes leaked in political circles, Mr. Sparaco came under intense pressure locally not to turn them into authorities.

“Frank Sparaco showed a lot of people in this county what someone with a moral compass looks like,” Chairman Reda said. “He kept his ethics under tremendous pressure, and as his county chairman, I am enormously proud of that.”

Mr. Sparaco served his country with distinction during the United Nations’ involvement in Bosnia in the late 1990’s. He served aboard the US Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt. As an Aviations Director on the flight deck, Mr. Sparaco earned various commendations and medals including: the National Defense Service Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon w/Bronze Star, NATO Medal and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.

(YWN Monsey Newsroom)