Oneida County Legislator James D’Onofrio, R-New Hartford, has done nothing illegal in landing sizable county copier contracts through competitive bidding. Under the laws of the state and county, he has the right to do business with the county he represents.
And he hasn’t done anything unethical, either. All of his business dealings with Oneida County are amply disclosed on the appropriate forms, and even his competitors for county work acknowledge D’Onofrio’s Arlott Office Products has earned the copier contracts by dint of hard work and smart bidding.
But the sheer amount of business that D’Onofrio conducts with the county is unwise, and it is something that he should reconsider.|
The reason is simple: D’Onofrio’s business success, in this case doing more copier business, is tied directly to the size of Oneida County government. If county government grows, then D’Onofrio’s business stands to grow with it. And if it were to shrink, then the county might need fewer copiers, which could hurt Arlott’s.
Take a step back and look at recent headlines. State government faces a yawning budget gap. Oneida County is forced to hike its share of Department of Motor Vehicles fees. Local taxpayers continue to feel burdened by property taxes that support the many layers of municipal government.
Good leadership in 2010 and years following demands that our elected representatives finally get serious about ensuring we all have a government we can afford. That’s going to mean difficult choices, including staff cuts, mergers and consolidation of services. Most likely, it’s going to lead to the same creation of empty office space that so much of the private sector has seen recently.
So the questions for D’Onofrio are this: Does he vote for the public’s interest, or for his own private interest? Does the county budget and staff get smaller, or not? And how can the public truly know what’s going into his decision-making process?
This is why it would be wise for D’Onofrio, or any other elected official, to refrain from substantial business dealings with the government entity they serve. Such dealings might well be legal and ethical, but they might not be in the ultimate best interests of the taxpayer.
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