President/CEO Shelton J. Haynes and Chief Counsel Gretchen Carlson, RIOC Snowflakes, say that work pressures have left them disabled with stress. Haynes even needed a couple of months on medical leave. As a cause, they blame five state officials for not letting them curtail “Constitutionally protected free speech” and further target whistleblowers already suing them.
Special rules should apply, it seems, for unelected officials as highly paid as they are sensitive. Now, they’re suing over it.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
For no good reason, Roosevelt Islanders, elected officials and the Governor’s Office banded together in assaulting Haynes and Robinson with race-based discrimination, they claim. And Governor Hochul’s Albany-powered handlers refused to derail multiple investigations against them, slow-walking them instead.
All the while, an expanding band of former employees targets the RIOC snowflakes with accusations ranging from whistleblower retaliation, harassment and racism.
No wonder they had a meltdown.
They’ve gotten support from RIOC’s hapless board of enablers directors, one of whom commiserated with Haynes’s pain from allegedly being targeted. Another screamed profanely that an investigation into Haynes’s conduct was, a la Trump, “a fucking witch hunt.”
But shouldn’t unelected executives pulling in $226K and $190K, plus exorbitant benefits, withstand criticism without falling apart? Should the guardrails hold instead of turning buttery?
All that will get the courts’ – some federal, some state – attention as Haynes, Robinson and RIOC are being sued by no less than six ex-employees.
Yet, no matter how you feel about the stress-related illnesses described in the Haynes/Robinson lawsuit, there’s another angle not getting enough attention.
The RIOC Snowflakes and the Damage Done
Genuine snowflakes do little harm. They either freeze in a mass or melt fast. So, we’re not sure Haynes and Robinson can really be considered true snowflakes.
Because they have done a lot of damage…
Who knows? Maybe the injured parties had it coming, but here’s a partial list of former RIOC employees who lost their jobs with either Haynes or Robinson or both deeply involved.
- Jonna Carmona-Graf: After a long, award-winning tenure with New York City Parks, Carmona didn’t last long under COO Shelton J. Haynes. A former manager described Haynes throwing her under the bus until her job finally died.
- Susan Rosenthal: Haynes was, as it finally turned out, a vital cog in her abrupt firing on Juneteenth in 2020. Robinson played local quarterback for a badly flawed state investigation. Neither “loyal” employee raised any issue with Rosenthal’s being denied any shot at defending herself.
- Terrence McCauley: When Haynes took over for Rosenthal, Haynes saddled McCauley with impossible working conditions in an instant reorg. McCauley, before RIOC, had a successful tenure in public relations in government, and that function collapsed after he left.
- Deborah Kutska: Kutska came to RIOC after a successful tenure at Hudson River Park Conservancy. Within six months with Haynes, she was unemployed.
- Arthur Eliav: Over seventeen years a goto attorney under multiple administrations, Eliav was fired without prior notice in the dustup over his insisting that Robinson adhere to state Freedom of Information Law. He also accused the RIOC Snowflakes of rigging a hiring promotion against him.
- Erica Spencer-EL: Spencer-EL filled many roles during her long tenure at RIOC, working for a series of CEOs. But that run ended after she filed whistleblower complaints against Haynes. According to her lawsuit, Haynes’s close associate, AVP Tajuna Sharpe suddenly discovered a decade-old discrepancy in her resume.
- Jessica Cerone: A close partner with Spencer-El in organizing community events, including the successful Girl Puzzle ribbon-cutting, she went out the door immediately after returning from family leave. RIOC said it was a reorg, and after more than ten years, she was out.
- Amy Smith: Another whistleblower who struggled under Haynes, feeling uncomfortable with what she felt was illegal and heartless conduct, Smith got the reorg treatment too.
- John O’Reilly: A highly regarded Chief Financial Officer with a resume that comes from years of success, O’Reilly smoothly guided RIOC through the pandemic, virtually running the organization. At one board meeting, a member said he’d paid his own salary and more with his work on RIOC’s finances.
- Karline Jean: A persistent adversary who accuses Haynes and Sharpe of unethical conduct in her federal lawsuit, Jean lasted 21 years at RIOC. After she refused an unethical demand, she alleges, Haynes targeted her and finally fired her.
- Robert Henry: Henry got the boot after making a joke during a meeting. The details are not clear, but Henry served for over a decade without incident.
Cold Blooded Snowflakes
The RIOC Snowflakes may lack the level of empathy they are now demanding and getting from the state and board.
Especially striking are the long tenures of almost all the lost employees, but there’s something else.
Multiple people – Roosevelt Islanders, a vendor, a fired employee – accuse Haynes of racial cleansing. Of the above list, over 80% are Caucasian, and way over half are women.
While that doesn’t prove anything, it would serve as damning evidence if the shoe were on the other foot.
Finally…
If the Governor’s office and/or RIOC’s board is interested in fairness – Sorry. Kidding. They’re not. – instead of coddling Haynes and Robinson, they’d consider the pain and damage afflicted on others.
And one final note: Roosevelt Islanders pay for defending against all the lawsuits targeting the RIOC Snowflakes.
As the Dust Settles
The way the wind cuts across the river this time of year. The way older buildings hold heat but never quite hold air. I told myself that was why my chest felt tight again on certain mornings. Age, perhaps.
