To the Editor:

It seems I struck a raw nerve when I recently wrote about a few of the many examples of government fraud I’ve personally witnessed. The examples I gave were never publicly known and no one was ever prosecuted.

In his responding letter, Mr. John McCarthy wrote sarcastically about all his personal experiences of corporate fraud that went unprosecuted and — no, my mistake, he had no personal experiences of corporate fraud.  He simply wanted to see “a little context” so he was compelled to cite several well known examples of corporate fraud that people were never prosecuted for — no, my mistake again, all his examples were prosecuted cases.

He thought I was being unfair to the New York State Office of General Services — but he got that wrong as well. I wrote about the federal General Services Administration.

Mr. McCarthy went so far as to suggest: “Next time your house is burning down, Mr. Crawmer, why don’t you fight it with your privately purchased fire extinguisher?”

I certainly hope he isn’t a firefighter in my home district. Sounds like something an angry public employee union thug would say.

For the record, unlike the OGS that Mr. McCarthy was confused over, the GSA I wrote about was non-union.  Maybe that explains his venomous response. I suspect he thought I was attacking unions and that he’s reacting the way a public employee union apologist always reacts, by attacking the private sector.

People who think like that have to understand something about profit and taxes. The government likes profit because it can be taxed. Government doesn’t like illegal profit such as that gained through corruption because it can’t be taxed — unless corrupt public servants discovers it, in which case they see an opportunity.

The big difference between the fraud committed by people in government and that of the private sector is that the government is the law and is loathe to convict itself. Attacking the whistleblower is its preferred response.

I do have more personal examples of government fraud, waste, corruption and such that I’d like to get off my chest but there are so many, I just don’t know where to begin. They involve instances of malfeasance within the New York State departments of state, labor, education, and taxation; local building departments; the IRS; and more. They don’t involve millions or billions of dollars so people like Mr. McCarthy will undoubtedly continue to impugn my motives but to allow them to remain unknown only enables further injustices.

One of these examples must be very common because I overheard a conversation between two people discussing their personal experience with it just yesterday. I’m referring to state employees sleeping on the job.

It seems to have become institutionalized. In the case I witnessed years ago, the sleeper had a landscaping and lawn-mowing business that he ran on a cash-only basis. He also had at least one employee that he paid under the table. He confided in me that this was his second job and he was only able to do it because he could sleep at his state job.

Some people will likely say that’s no big deal but, the way I see it, he’s taking work from the honest taxpaying landscaper who has to work that much harder to generate the tax revenue required to pay the sleeper’s state salary.

I hope to have an opportunity to write about more of this down the road but right now I have to start writing my property tax grievance testimony. Tax Grievance Day in New York is May 26 this year. I would like to suggest that every property owner (including the state employees who sleep on the job) make an attempt to contest their assessment.

We are all being taxed too much and the property Tax Grievance Day is a rare opportunity to do something about it. I failed in my attempt to get my property tax assessment lowered two years ago so this year it is imperative that I do a better job of presenting my case. It has been a learning experience. It’s not for the faint of heart but it beats voting with your feet.

David Crawmer

North Greenbush