“It appears that … Scott Mandel, Fran Adelson, and Len Torres obtained free legal representation from Harris Beach, a politically connected law firm, and they failed to disclose the gift of services to proper authorities,” Hennessy said in a statement. “Then, only 21 days after that case was settled … Mandel, Adelson and Torres voted to hire that same firm and the very same attorney … If, after a thorough investigation, these allegations are found to be true, Mandel, Adelson and Torres’ conduct may very well constitute serious violations of the ethics law as well as criminal law and are a malicious and illegal use of taxpayer money, especially during a so-called fiscal crisis.”

A spokesman for Rice, Chris Munzing, said that the office is reviewing Hennessy’s claim. City officials dismissed his allegations as political mudslinging.

“This firm was brought on a year and a half ago, in full transparency at a City Council meeting, because of their expertise and success in representing municipalities across New York state in economic development matters,” City Manager Jack Schnirman said. “I realize that silly season is beginning, but my job is to focus on the city’s physical and fiscal recovery without distraction. We hired this firm because they’re qualified. Why is this being brought up now? The answer is politics.”

Mandel, the council president, called the claim a “blatant, desperate and nasty” attempt at a political distraction by Hennessy, the Republican party’s spokesman. “While his motivation is clear from his abject refusal to act or to help our city rebuild after Sandy, we would at the very least hope that he would not try to stand in the way of those who are trying to help,” Mandel said in a statement. “We invite him to put aside his bias and agenda and to lend a hand to our city and his neighbors as we continue to work together to rebuild.”

Mike Zapson, the chairman of the Long Beach Democratic Committee, said that the committee retained Harris Beach, and called Hennessy’s allegations “absurd.” “These were services rendered on behalf of the Democratic Committee in an attempt to stop Republican mismanagement; this was not a gift to any of the elected officials,” Zapson said. “Before they took office, the Republicans tried to make tremendous payouts, and this was prior to not being able to make payroll. The reason that Harris Beach was retained to bring the lawsuit is because I had worked with them before and they were very familiar with ways to weed out waste, fraud and mismanagement that was prevalent in the Republican administration.”

Harris Beach said that it volunteered its legal services.

“The work performed for the Long Beach Democratic Party involved seeking an injunction to prevent payouts by the outgoing Republican administration,” said William P. Albert, senior manager of media and community relations for Harris Beach. “This work was done on a volunteer basis. The claim that Harris Beach received legal work from the city as a result of this volunteer activity is without merit.”

The city’s corporation counsel, Corey Klein, said he had recommended retaining Harris Beach to help create the local economic development corporation based on the firm’s expertise. Klein, who represented the city when the Democrats filed the injunction, said that all financial disclosure forms were properly filed by Adelson, Torres and Mandel and were made available to Hennessy through a Freedom of Information Law request.

“I do not believe that there are any ethical violations here,” Klein said.

Fagen is not included in Hennessy’s ethics complaint because he was removed from the council after he was convicted of petit larceny and 18 counts of offering a false instrument for filing. Hennessy said that Fagen had abstained from voting to hire Harris Beach.

He added that he was permitted to view the financial disclosure forms only at City Hall. “I saw them, and there is nothing in there regarding Harris Beach or who paid for legal services,” Hennessy said, adding that the $10,000 estimate is based on “reasonable” attorney fees. “They had a personal relationship with this firm, and then they gave the firm a contract. This appears to be a classic political quid pro quo, at the taxpayer’s expense.”

Some officials who asked to remain anonymous pointed out that Hennessy had sued the city after he was fired from his job as a lifeguard, and hired former City Manager Charles Thefoan as his attorney. Theofan was subsequently hired as corporation counsel after the case was settled.

“I did not violate any ethics laws, and I did publicly disclose my personal professional relationship with Theofan multiple times,” Hennessy said.

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