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BROOKHAVEN: Call to investigate official's car use

BY ERIK GERMAN | erik.german@newsday.com
June 27, 2007

Republican candidates for two top Brookhaven offices demanded an investigation of Democratic Highway Superintendent John Rouse yesterday for driving his taxpayer-funded sport utility vehicle on a personal trip to Massachusetts.

A parking ticket disclosed by Newsday last week shows that Rouse took his town-owned SUV to Northampton, Mass., in 2006 for reasons he still declines to discuss publicly. Rouse owns a house in Hadley, Mass., records show, about seven miles from the spot where the ticket was issued.

Supervisor candidate Robert DiCarlo and highway chief hopeful Martin Haley said Rouse's trip broke town rules on vehicle use. Town officials say, however, that no such rules exist for elected office holders.

Nonetheless, the two Republicans excoriated Rouse at a news conference on the lawn outside Highway Department headquarters. They called Rouse's trip especially troubling given Democratic Supervisor Brian Foley's scathing report last week on abuse of town vehicles.

"What was [Rouse] doing in Massachusetts?" Haley said. "He misused town property and we're asking for an investigation."

DiCarlo pledged that, if elected supervisor, he will continue driving his Chrysler minivan rather than take a taxpayer-funded car.

"I commit absolutely," DiCarlo said. "I don't need a town vehicle."

Haley, however, declined to forgo a town-owned vehicle if elected.

DiCarlo also called on Foley to force Rouse to disclose the purpose and number of trips the highway chief has taken to Massachusetts in his town-owned vehicle. Rouse said the trip is no one's business but his.

"When Mr. Haley and Mr. DiCarlo want to talk about substantive policy issues and improving our paving and snow removal and concrete programs, then we can have a mature and intelligent discussion," he said. "Until then, I've got to get back to work."

As for his second house, Rouse said it's an "uninhabitable" place without electricity or heat that he hopes to fix up some day. He said he does not live there, but declined to say how often he visits.

Brookhaven law and ethics rules allow elected office holders unlimited use of town-owned vehicles, said town spokesman Tom Burke. Although Foley has pledged to review the policy, Burke insisted the highway superintendent broke no rules.

"There's no basis for investigating Mr. Rouse's use of his vehicle," Burke said. "He's done nothing that's illegal or unethical according to the town code."

 

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