NorCo Controller Blasts Law Firm, Former Exec, in Devastating Audit

John Lushis

Imagine you're elected Northampton County Executive, go to your office to begin your new job, and find nothing's there. That's what happened when Lamont McClure started as the County's top man. The shredders must have been working OT before he started. He was flying blind on top of a $450 million budget. But one of the first things to cross his desk was an outrageous legal bill from John Lushis of Allentown law firm Norris McLaughlin. Even more amazing, it was for a new jail at Gracedale. Former Executive John Brown had repeatedly denied this during the campaign. As McClure settled in, more and more of these bills crossed his desk. He would eventually learn that Brown had been using the county's General Purpose Authority (GPA) to do an end run around County Council. Now an audit from Controller Richard "Bucky" Szulborski confirms it, and also demonstrates that Lushis' law firm was overbilling.

John Briwn

Earlier this year, Council VP Ron Heckman convened a special hearing over GPA irregularities. Its former Chair, Shawn Langen, was condescending and dismissive. "I have about 12 more minutes before I have dinner for 10 people," he huffed at one point. Following that hearing, Ken Kraft introduced a tough resolution calling for the resignations of Lushis and Langen.

Thy both eventually stepped down. McClure has refused to pay Lushis any moremoney,and he rejectedbills that were also submitted by Langen.

Slowly, Lamont McClure has appointed new members, and the GPA is now a better and more responsive agency. In the meantime, the Controller was asked to audit GPA over the billing and how it is that Lushis was able to get away with charging so much money. That audit was released December 10. Lead auditor Anthony Sabino pretty much confirms that Lushis overbilled and that former Executive Brown was using Lushis as some sort of secret solicitor with no oversight from Council.

According to the audit, Lushis overbilled the county on the P3 bridge project to the tune of $55,069. Even worse, John Brown paid him $153,343.50 for work related to a new jail even though that work was never authorized by Council.

"[W]e , we believe NMM was acting as a Professional Service vendor of the County and that all restrictions included in Article XIII of the County’s Administrative Code (Procurement and Disposition of County Property) are applicable as to their retention for workrelated to the Jail Reconstruction Project. The only procedural difference was that invoices were addressed to the NCGPA but they were paid directly to NMM by the County."

The audit goes on to point out six violations of the county's procurement code. In addition, the GPA violated its own by-laws when hiring vendors.

You can read the audit in its entirety below.

NorCo Controller's Audit of GPA by BernieOHare on Scribd