Attorney challenges end of Legislature contract

A lawyer who counseled the Putnam Legislature for nearly seven years is suing the county executive, county attorney and two other officials over the termination of a contract that lawmakers had twice voted to renew. 

In a petition filed Feb. 11 in state Supreme Court, Robert Firriolo asked a judge to uphold his reappointment by the Legislature, which has been embroiled in a dispute with County Executive Kevin Byrne and County Attorney Compton Spain over its power to unilaterally hire attorneys. 

Firriolo’s lawsuit also named John Tully, the commissioner of general services, and Michael Lewis, the finance commissioner.

The county code allows the Legislature to contract for legal services with the approval of its chair and the county attorney. Seven of its nine members voted Dec. 3 to reappoint Firriolo, who had represented the Legislature since 2017 and whose most recent contract ran through Dec. 31. (Legislator Nancy Montgomery, a Democrat representing Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, and Erin Crowley, a Republican representing Carmel, voted against hiring Firriolo.)

About two weeks later, Tully emailed Firriolo to say the county was terminating his contract. In response, legislators voted again, on Dec. 30, to reappoint him. They also voted to rehire a Mount Kisco law firm that had represented the Legislature when Byrne sued in November over its power to hire an attorney of its choosing. 

Although Byrne dropped the lawsuit, the Legislature said it was retaining the firm “in anticipation of a similar challenge.”

Firriolo, who was invited by legislators to take the counsel’s seat during a meeting on Jan. 7, said he did not learn until Jan. 24 that Spain had declared both resolutions adopted by the Legislature on Dec. 30 to be “unlawful.”

In a Jan. 27 letter to Amy Sayegh, chair of the Legislature, and Dan Birmingham, chair of the Rules Committee, Firriolo said he was, “out of an abundance of caution,” suspending his services. He invoiced the county for his work through Jan. 24 and is asking the judge to compel the county to pay. 

In response to Firriolo’s letter, Spain warned him on Feb. 3 to “cease and desist” from communicating with “our client” (the Legislature), which Spain described as a violation of the state’s ethics rules for attorneys. On Monday (Feb. 17), Putnam County asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

The ongoing conflict between the Legislature and the county Law Department includes an ethics complaint in which Spain accuses Legislator Toni Addonizio, a Republican who represents Kent, of failing to disclose that the person seeking to buy a county-owned property in Carmel was her son-in-law.

Firriolo defended Addonizio in a letter sent to the county ethics board. He also accused Spain of failing to disclose, when asked on his employment application about criminal convictions, that he was found guilty in 1993 of contempt of court. Spain was convicted under state Judiciary Law, but because the penalty can include jail time, Firriolo argued it is equivalent to a criminal misdemeanor.

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Leonard Sparks has been reporting for The Current since 2020. The Peekskill resident holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Morgan State University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and previously covered Sullivan County and Newburgh for The Times Herald-Record in Middletown. He can be reached at [email protected].