Report details ‘objectionable conduct’
Ex-comptroller said to have joked about blackface pic
Former Town Comptroller Paul Sebesta displayed a photograph of himself in blackface on his work email account in 2014 and 2016, told employees the photograph was part of a calendar at his office, and “engaged in other objectionable conduct” during his tenure, according to a law firm’s investigation commissioned by the town.
Sebesta, who for many years during his 32-year career was Niskayuna’s highest paid town employee, submitted his letter of resignation on June 18, three days after the Town Board received a “letter from concerned citizens” that focused on the photo.
The investigation by the Nixon Peabody law firm found that in 2018 Sebesta posted the photo of himself “dressed as a person from the Caribbean/west Indies in the spirit of Bob Marley” to his personal Facebook page that identified him as town comptroller.
Specifically, Sebesta had “artificially-darkened skin, artificial (non-caucasian) facial hair and wearing a wig of fake dreadlocks under a knit hat.”
Marley was a prominent reggae singer from Jamaica. Blackface refers to the practice of wearing makeup to imitate the appearance of a Black person. It was a hallmark of old minstrel shows that’s been deemed a racist display for decades.
In July 2018, Niskyleaks, a social media site, posted a tweet critical of Sebesta for the offensive photograph. That caught the attention of the then-town attorney who notified Sebesta about it, the Nixon Peabody investigation said. Sebesta changed the privacy settings on his account, the report states. The document does not name the attorney. At the time, Rob Hess served in the post.
The report revealed that some town employees “objected to the offensive nature of the photo on more than one occasion, telling Mr. Sebesta that he should not be publicly displaying it, particularly in light of his Human Resources responsibility.”
Other town employees were offended, but said nothing to Sebesta, the report said, while noting “still other employees saw nothing wrong with it.”
“Mr. Sebesta laughed and joked about the photo to colleagues and brushed aside criticism of its offensive nature,” the report states.
On Tuesday Sebesta’s attorney, Kevin Luibrand, said his client took a vacation in 2013 to the Caribbean where he bought the Bob Marley costume because he is a big fan. In 2014, he wore it to a Halloween party, and later posted a picture to his Facebook page.
“Four years later somebody said to him that it could be offensive, he said ‘I didn’t know that, I’ll take it down,’ and he took it down — that’s the sum total of what he supposedly did,” said Luibrand. “There’s people in the community who hunted him down to try to destroy his reputation as a result of this.”
Luibrand stressed that Sebesta never agreed to a settlement agreement with the town and may still bring a claim against Niskayuna
for withholding the money it eventually paid to him.
Nixon Peabody, which was paid $150,000 for its work, also wrote that past and present employees told them that Sebesta had “engaged in other objectionable conduct ... that was not fully investigated or documented.” The report does not offer details about that conduct.
Luibrand was incredulous at the cost, blasting it as “the most ridiculous abuse of taxpayer money I’ve ever heard of.”
The report says the current group of Town Board members had not seen the photograph until June when Progressive Schenectady, an activist group, sent a letter to Niskayuna Supervisor Yasmine Syed threatening to go public and demanding the board address the issue.
Sebesta formally retired in July. Syed initially tried to block the town from paying $26,313 to Sebesta for his unused vacation time, claiming it could be withheld because he resigned while being investigated and facing potential discipline for the incident. Last month, the town paid Sebesta for the vacation time. Over the summer, the town paid him $47,364 for unused sick time.
The report offers no indication the photograph appeared on emails Sebesta sent to other town officials.
The letter from Progressive Schenectady prompted Syed to call an emergency meeting with other members of the board on June 15. The closed-door session led to Sebesta being placed on unpaid leave.
On Tuesday, Lynell Engelmyer, co-founder of Progressive Schenectady, said in a statement that the group appreciated board members clarifying “their position on the use of ‘blackface’ and other insensitive or outright offensive behavior by town employees and we trust that such behavior will no longer be excused whether as a Halloween costume or for any other reason.”
The report states the town is reviewing “town policies, practices and procedures” aimed at enhancing its operations and improving the workplace culture at Town Hall. It is already offering training
for staff, department heads, and board members on diversity, inclusion and racial equity. The town hired Saratoga Human Resources Solutions. Inc. to provide support services for a variety of issues including conflict resolution to offer employees access to a hotline where they can report concerns confidentially.
On Tuesday, Syed release a statement on behalf of herself and the others on the board.
“The Town Board reiterates its zero-tolerance for the use, depiction or display of ‘blackface’ by town employees, regardless of the intent, recognizing that it is racially offensive and insensitive.”