A Buffalo attorney representing the movement to keep the Western New York Children's Psychiatric Center open has sent a letter to State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, asking him to investigate Governor Cuomo and the circumstances surrounding his desire to close the West Seneca-based facility.
The State Legislature has acted to keep the children's campus open. Governor Cuomo has vetoed their bill. He and the state's mental health commissioner, Dr. Anne Marie Sullivan, are pushing a plan to close the Western New York Children's Psychiatric Center and merge it with the Buffalo Psychiatric Center.
In his letter to DiNapoli, attorney Steven Cohen of Hogan Willig argues the governor is violating the state's mental hygiene laws by trying to shut down a facility legislators have, through their actions, deemed necessary to keep open.
"The judge has taken a look at the Mental Hygeine Law," Cohen said, referring to State Supreme Court Justice Catherine Panepinto, who ordered Cuomo's effort halted only to have it vacated by a higher court. "She has asked the Attorney General's Office, how do you deal with the fact that, in order to do what the governor is in the process of doing, he would have required legislative approval. The Mental Hygiene Law requires that. And although they spoke for about 15 minutes, in response to that question, they never answered the question. The law is the law and the governor thinks he's above it."
Cohen also refers to Cuomo associates Joseph Percoco and Todd Howe, the former's felony convictions for bribery involving contractors and the latter's testimony in such cases. He questioned whether the governor may be motivated by a desire to redevelop the West Seneca campus.
"For the first time, we have what may be a motive here," Cohen said. "We see that there is a tremendous amount of contractor bribery going on with this governor's administration and the land is not only perfect for its current use but it's a developer's dream."
Seated next to Cohen was David Chudy, co-chair of the Save the Western New York Children's Psychiatric Center Coalition. He renewed the argument that relocating young mental health patients to the same campus as adult patients is a dangerous idea.
"That governor, that mental health commissioner, has not provided any family, youth or mental health professional that is not paid by the Office of Mental Health to step forward in five years to say this is good for those kids," Chudy said.
A spokesman for Comptroller DiNapoli confirmed his office has received the letter and was in the process of reviewing it.
Cohen, meanwhile, has not ruled out seeking help at the federal level.
"We may have to go to the feds and we're willing to do that," he said. "But the first step is to go to the New York Comptroller. The US Attorney for the Western District of New York would be the next logical place for us to go but let's see how this turns out. And we have a judge who's on the case who's not afraid to do what's right. The only problem is there are judges higher than her honor who acting singly have tied her hands."
