WHEN IT COMES TO TRUST GO WITH YOUR GUT

I was thinking over the weekend about why I still haven’t gotten an answer from Mike the chair to the question of DID THE COMMISSION CHANGE THE WAY IT DETERMINES DUE DATES

And that led me to the process I’ve always used to figure these ethical riddles out Be it Trump and his casino ads or Philip Morris and their gifts to public officials or the Yankees and their tickets to electeds (including former Manhattan DA Morgenthau) And it all comes down to the same thing you know some facts, they tell you some other facts, you get a gut feeling, you follow that gut feeling until you learn the truth (is it a lie when they don’t tell you all the facts?) Then you deal with it

When it comes to the question I asked at the last commission meeting DID THE COMMISSION CHANGE THE WAY IT DETERMINES DUE DATES here are the facts I know

1. The commission used to count to 15 starting at 0 not 1 (today is 0 tomorrow is 1)
2. The commission used to take the latest date possible from an authorization or contract to start counting to 15
3. At some point special counsel Ralph changed point 1 above to start at 1 (reducing the number of days you have to register to 14)
4. At some point special counsel Ralph changed point 2 above to take the earliest date possible from an authorization or contract to start counting to 15
5. The result of special counsel Ralph’s changes were a lot of folks having to pay late fees that were not legitimate (give a child a gun they are going to pull the trigger)
6. People both inside and outside the commission tried to tell the special counsel he was making a mistake (anyone who has delt with Ralph knows what that feels like)
7. special counsel Ralph is seldom correct but never in doubt (and the more wrong he is the louder he gets)
8. Several of my clients got what I believed were illegitimate late fees (bastard late fees)
9. I wrote a letter to special counsel Ralph pointing out why he is wrong on the calculation and legitimacy of late fees
10. I got a letter back from Christina not Ralph saying they are counting to 15 starting at 0 now
11. Christina was trained to document anything special counsel Ralph told her regarding programs because the special counsel changes his mind a lot
12. I asked my question of DID THE COMMISSION CHANGE THE WAY IT DETERMINES DUE DATES and Mike the chair still hasn’t answered it’s now been 10 days

Now here’s what my gut tells me

Ralph never reviewed the late fee letters that were prepared by Brooke he just signed them (probably the most productive thing he did that week)

When he got my letter he asked Christina to review the file

Christina explained points 1 thru 5 above to the special counsel for the 100th time

The special counsel made Christina write me the letter noted in point 10 above

Christina documented special counsel Ralphs most recent position on points 1 thru 5 above and sent an email to the program staff so they could change how they calculate due dates (I hope she copied the special counsel and Patrick the starfish aka Barry Ginsberg)

If any of those folks want to send me a copy of that email please do so anonymously Once I have it I won’t need Mike the chairs answer but the Inspector General might

You see at the end of the day you go with your gut because that’s more trustworthy than what others don’t tell you

And my gut tells me the public integrity commission can’t be trusted