cop on the beat (BAR association) was on the take, also sending in fake timesheets? well, that explains why they gave the local guys a pass for doing the exact same thing, doesn't it?

The guys in Albany had to resign, so why are Fitzsimmons, Grattan, Howard, Hoag, Mack, Stack, Garvey, Czajka, and Watz still on the job?

So, crooked lawyers who cheat on timesheets are supposed to resign right? Rappleyea resigned. The people named above are all involved in submitting false timesheets or aiding and abetting the submission of false timesheets. So, guys, resign. Much more money involved in Columbia County Attorney office than in the scandal in Albany, more people, longer time, more money looted by Fitzsimmons.

If the Grattan and Czajka want their names off the list, make sure Robert Fitzsimmons loses his job. The longer you two fool around and do nothing, the worse it will be for you, Grattan and Czajka. You both absolutely know that there have been many years of systematic fraud under Fitzsimmons. Tal Rappleyea already resigned because he was guilty of fraud and larceny. Why are you coddling Fitzsimmons? Drop him.

Here is my letter to Inspector General Sherrill Spatz http://www.nycourts.gov/admin/ig/index.shtml

Dear Ms. Spatz,
I saw this article and felt I had to write to you:
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Oversight-lawyers-quit-amid-inquiry-4658239.php 

I wrote to the Committee of Professional Standards about Tal Rappleyea, then assistant county attorney for Columbia County, as well as town attorney for 11 towns and villages in Columbia and Greene counties. As I said in my complaints in 2011 and 2012, I paid Mr. Rappleyea a kickback of 437.50 in 2009, he was paid $10,000 without any paperwork by the town of Stuyvesant and he claimed to work 30 hours per week for Columbia County although he never set foot in the office and did not keep a log of work, as is clear from a FOIL lawsuit, recorded phone calls and invoices showing him elsewhere on more than 100 occasions in a sample of three years. I am in appellate court on a FOIL request for a single document produced by Rappleyea in his role as assistant county attorney, as Columbia County has been unable to find a single document produced by Rappleyea after 30 hours per week for 9 years of "employment." 

These matters are documented on my blog and a story ran on the front page of the Albany Times Union: 

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Attorney-math-1-day-26-hours-4026701.php 

http://www.sunshineonthehudson.com/ 

I appreciate that you are investigating the billing practices of the Committee of Professional Standards itself, as those timesheet falsifying lawyers did not investigate my claims against Rappleyea. If the cop on the beat is on the take, as appears to be the case, you can bet the guys the cop is supposed to watch feel pretty free to take too. Robert Fitzsimmons, Columbia County Attorney, has known about and participated in a systematic timesheet fraud for many years. The Committee of Professional Standards has to date let down the taxpayers of Columbia and Greene counties by allowing this fraud to continue despite my bringing it to their attention and running on the front page of the Albany Times Union.  

Hopefully, your efforts to look into the same fraud at the Committee of Professional Standards itself will bare on the fact that the Committee has to date declined to investigate the same fraud when it occurs elsewhere. Thank you.  

Thank you for your attention to this matter,
Will Pflaum
518-889-9814