State and Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello has friends all over.
When his future son-in-law needed a job in 2005, Mondello’s law associate Michael Axelrod gave the young attorney’s resume to the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. There, executive director Thomas DeMaria – a local Republican committeeman – helped Christopher Ostuni, two years out of law school, get a $75,000-a-year job as his “confidential assistant.”
In March, when the Waterfront commission was under investigation and DeMaria needed a new job, he landed a $120,000-a-year position as Hempstead’s public safety commissioner.
DeMaria and Mondello both denied having had any influence over the hirings. DeMaria said he can’t recall if the then newly-created waterfront assistant job was advertised. He said he recommends candidates for the bi-state agency, but its two commissioners do the hiring. Axelrod, the New York commissioner, gave the commission Ostuni’s resume, DeMaria said.
Mondello said through a spokesman that Ostuni “was extremely well-qualified.” “He was recruited for the job by the Waterfront Commission,” he said. “I had no involvement in his employment whatsoever.”
The state Inspector General’s office is probing the commission for possible "favoritism” and “financial irregularities," sources said.
Eden Laikin