CANTON — During the three years Mary E. Rain has served as St. Lawrence County’s district attorney, 20 assistant DAs have quit or resigned, including nine last year alone.
The high turnover rate is concerning to county legislators who in December voted 12-2 in favor of a resolution asking Ms. Rain to resign from office “as soon as possible.”
“When you have rapid personnel turnover it’s hard to do a good job, no matter what the occupation is,” said Legislature Chairman Kevin D. Acres. “There is nothing we can do about it. The board has authorized the filling of those jobs. For whatever reason, people are not applying for the jobs, or they’re not staying.”
The county legislature’s resolution also asked Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to initiate an investigation into Ms. Rain‘s office for her possible removal.
Mr. Acres said the legislature does not have authority to remove Ms. Rain, a registered Republican who defeated former DA Nicole M. Duve, a Democrat.
Ms. Rain did not respond to a request for a comment on this topic.
Ms. Rain’s four-year term expires Dec. 31. She is paid $183,000 a year, the salary paid to DAs throughout the state.
Mr. Acres said none of the ADAs who left sent letters to legislators explaining their reasons for departing. He speculated that a heavy workload and internal problems within the office may be partly responsible.
“It is a big job and we have 37 local courts that are covered by the DA’s office,” Mr. Acres said.
Mr. Acres said he is mainly concerned about felony criminal cases being dismissed as a result of the staffing turmoil in Ms. Rain’s office because they’re not being prosecuted in a timely basis.
“The worry is that the efforts of law enforcement officials is being diminished,” he said.
During their election campaign, Ms. Rain criticized Ms. Duve for having a high turnover rate.
Responding to a request, the county’s Human Resources Department provided a list of all the ADAs who have left the office during Ms. Rain’s tenure and the date they left.
Human Resources Director Paul M. Smith said the reason for leaving was provided on forms submitted by Ms. Rain.
Contacted earlier this week, Mr. Haggard disputed records that indicate he was fired. He said he submitted a resignation letter in April 2016.
The list includes the following attorneys and their employment end date:
Andre Botts; 1/2/2014, resignation
Lloyd Grandy; 1/2/2014, resignation
Viacheslav Mareyev; 1/2/2014, resignation
Brenna Ryan; 1/26/2015, terminated
Patricia Campbell; 2/13/2015, terminated
Otis Simon; 4/17/2015, resignation
Grace Witte; 6/26/2015, resignation
A. Michael Gebo; 9/11/2015, resignation
Abigail Hind; 11/6/2015, resignation
Ramy Louis; 12/31/2015, resignation
Shadi Masri; 1/15/2016, resignation
David Haggard; 4/14/2016, terminated
Jonathan Jirik; 4/27/2016, resignation
Matthew Hogestyn; 5/6/2016, resignation
David Park; 5/6/2016, resignation
Sara Clothier; 6/25/2016, resignation
Marquetta Christy; 7/1/2016, resignation
James Andes; 8/11/2016, terminated
Frank Cositore; 11/18/2016, resignation
Peter Stroe; 2/10/2017, resignation