Investigation of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor

Maria that he “should have been more careful in reviewing Mr. McDermott’s applicationbecause he knew that Mr. McDermott had been in trouble all of his life.”According to De Maria and others at the Waterfront Commission, when arrests orother irregularities appear on applicants’ files, the files were to be assigned to an assistantcounsel, who would review the file and interview the registrant. Contrary to this policy,Deutsch stated he believed as Director of Licensing he had authority to make licensingdecisions without review by Counsel’s office. Deutsch acknowledged that if a registranthad a serious conviction or made a misrepresentation on the application, the file would beassigned to an assistant counsel. Deutsch, however, did not do so in McDermott’s case,even after he received McDermott’s criminal history.The Commission’s internal report on this matter also reveals that Deutschinterceded on McDermott’s behalf by contacting James Melia, Executive Vice Presidentof New York Shipping Association, to ask whether a planned family vacation wouldaffect Brendan McDermott’s attendance status. In his defense, Deutsch stated that heonly contacted Melia at the request of Frank McDermott because Melia was the mostknowledgeable person in the industry. Deutsch claimed that the phone call was not torequest special privileges for Brendan McDermott.Deutsch was permitted to respond in writing to the internal WaterfrontCommission report. According to Axelrod, while Commissioner Madonna was satisfiedwith Deutsch’s response, Commissioner Axelrod referred to it as “incompetent” and“unsatisfactory.” Deutsch’s written response to the Commission’s internal report on theincident included the following claim:At the time of this alleged incident, there was no “Conflicts/EthicsPolicy” other than twelve lines which appear on Page 18 of theEmployee Manual. Even rendering a loose interpretation of thispolicy, I submit that no conflict of interest existed at the time that Ipreliminarily reviewed McDermott’s application. Since the incident,a complete Ethics/Conflict of Interest Policy has been developed andpromulgated for all Commission employees.As Deutsch testified, McDermott was permitted to withdraw his application,rather than face any consequences for misstatements on his application. Suchconsequences could have included termination and arguably criminal prosecution.According to De Maria, both he and Axelrod wanted to discipline Deutsch for hisactions related to McDermott’s application, but Madonna refused to take any disciplinaryaction. Finally, the commissioners agreed that Deutsch would not be disciplined, butAxelrod would “read Deutsch the riot act.” No record of this matter was noted inDeutsch’s personnel file. The matter was concluded when McDermott was requested towithdraw his application. Deutsch testified:What occurred was, in a meeting between both Commissioners thatwere there and the executive director, Commissioner Madonna said,“Maybe it would be best for all involved if Mr. McDermott just16