Being County Executive of Westchester County and Running for Governor of New York is just not enough for Robert Astorino. It reported that Astorino is reeling in about $30,000 a year as a consultant to a major media conglomerate. The pay is on top of his $160,000 of the Westchester County taxers money for his annual salary as Westchester’s top elected official.
The earnings from Connecticut-based Townsquare Media were redacted from a copy of Astorino’s official financial disclosure statement released by Westchester County.
His spokeswoman, however, provided the information to The News.
As the Westchester County executive, Astorino oversees a $1.7 billion annual budget. It is unusual for county executives with such responsibilities to have outside employment.
Democrats charged that Astorino’s moonlighting runs afoul of the Westchester County Charter, which states he must “devote his whole time to the duties of his office and shall hold no other public office.”
County Executive Robert Astorino is violating the County Charter!
Sec. 110.01. Election; term; qualifications; compensation.
There shall be a County Executive who shall be elected from the county at large at the general election held the year following the presidential election. He shall be nominated at the primary election in the same manner as other county officers are nominated. He shall hold office for a term of four years from January first succeeding his election. The County Executive shall at all times be a qualified elector of the county, and shall have been a resident free holder of the county for at least five years prior to his election. He shall devote his whole time to the duties of his office and shall hold no other public office. He shall receive compensation to be fixed by an act of the County Board. No person shall serve as County Executive for more than three consecutive four-year terms. The first year for a County Executive for the purposes of calculating years as contained in this section shall commence on or after January 1, 2014. No service for a partial term as County Executive shall be included in calculating the three consecutive four-year terms.
“Who knew that as Westchester County executive you could have so much extra time on your hands that you can earn consulting fees on the side,” said Mike Morey, a spokesman for the Democrat-backed Astorino Truth Squad. “I thought it was a full time job.”
Astorino spokeswoman Jessica Proud scoffed at the Democrats’ claims and said Astorino simply provides “programming and formatting advice” to the company, which owns 312 radio stations, including more than 30 in upstate New York.
