Hit the road – uh, except you
Car misuse means ax, but not for jail big
Mayor de Blasio was quick to have Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte’s back when investigators reported Ponte misused his official vehicle — including spending nearly six weeks of workdays in Maine last year.
But other city workers who have committed similar infractions have lost their jobs, records show.
Just last month, Department of Environmental Protection electrical engineer Magdy Youssef was forced to resign after he used a city-issued vehicle to run personal errands and commute home 19 times over four months in 2016.
The 10-year employee is being allowed to stay on until July 1 before he must step down, Conflicts of Interest Board documents show. He could not be reached for comment.
Fellow DEP worker Joseph Romano Jr. was also shown the door in late 2016 after he was caught using his city vehicle for personal trips to fast-food restaurants, malls and a doctor’s office.
In part because he used the car more often than Youssef — 50 times over two months — Romano’s penalty required “immediate resignation,” the documents show.
The mayor’s support for a commissioner who broke those same city rules has riled his opponents.
“It is apparent that Mayor de Blasio believes that neither he nor his commissioners need to follow the rules and regulations guiding this city,” said New York Assembly member Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican candidate for mayor. “Ponte must go.”
Ponte racked up 18,500 out-ofstate miles on his city-issued SUV in 2016 alone, according to a Department of Investigation report.
He had $1,043 in gas charges accrued outside of New York, plus $746 in E-ZPass charges on personal trips for which he did not reimburse the city as required, the report said.
Ponte apparently sought out guidance to determine whether it was OK to charge taxpayers for gas and toll charges during his frequent personal trips to his former home in Maine and other locales.
De Blasio and other City Hall officials say Ponte was told he could, but they have refused to identify which Correction Department officials gave Ponte the improper approval.
City rules forbid any personal use of city vehicles that is not incidental.
Ponte will not be punished, al- though he will reimburse the money he spent on gas and tolls, a DOC spokesperson said Monday.
A Correction Department operations order prohibits out-ofstate vehicle use without prior approval, and allows it only if it “serves an essential function of the department.”
Other city employees who misused their work vehicles less frequently than Romano and Youssef have been fined or suspended, or at times put on probation.
Ponte could still be disciplined by the Conflicts of Interest board, but de Blasio’s support makes it unlikely he will be fired.
“I have absolute faith in Commissioner Ponte,” de Blasio told WNYC radio on Friday.
“I don’t begrudge someone if they need downtime, so long as they get the job done.”
It is apparent that Mayor de Blasio believes that neither he nor his commissioners need to follow the rules and regulations guiding this city . . . Ponte must go. — Nicole Malliotakis, an Assembly member and Republican mayoral candidate, about the mayor’s response to the misuse of an official city vehicle by Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte (right)