Articles Tagged ‘Georgina Morgenstern’
Update: Nassau Must Pay Morgenstern $1.8 M
Federal jurors in Central Islip awarded former Nassau County Planning Department Employee Georgina Morgenstern $1.8 million in a wrongful termination suit that included allegations of…
Skeletons In The Closet
In a hushed federal courtroom on the eighth floor of the Alfonse M. D’Amato U.S. Courthouse in Central Islip, eight jurors and a judge have been hearing testimony in one of the most shocking court cases in recent local political history. You wouldn’t know it from the lack of media coverage, though.
Besides the judge, jury, five attorneys and several rotating witnesses, the room is otherwise empty but for the plaintiff’s husband and a handful of law interns. There are no camera crews camped outside, no journalists lurking the hallways. None, except for this curious reporter.
The Whistleblower
For Nassau County employees, silence is golden. To speak out about corruption means your head on a chopping block.
When Georgina Morgenstern came to work on the Nassau County Planning Commission in August 2002, she was anything but naïve. The Port Washington resident had more than 20 years’ experience at the nexus of urban planning and politics. She had toiled at New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection and the city’s planning department, working on dozens of multimillion-dollar projects across all five boroughs and New Jersey. She played a role in upgrading New York City’s largest wastewater facility, the Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant in Brooklyn, and also worked on New York City’s Third Water Tunnel.
