Groups call for new LIPA commission study after consultant exposed himself on Zoom meeting

Opponents of a state commission's plan to transition LIPA to a fully public utility are seizing on a draft report prepared by a company whose executive disrobed on a Zoom feed during an advisory committee meeting last week to call for a new financial analysis.

In a letter Monday to the commission’s executive director, Rory Lancman, the Association for a Better Long Island and the Long Island Association, among other business groups, said the report by Atlanta consulting firm GDS Associates should be scrapped after an official for the firm exposed himself during the public meeting and engaged in a “shocking, lewd, and lascivious act” on April 28.

“Simply stated, the conclusions found within this draft report designed to be the basis for municipalization of Long Island’s electric grid cannot in good conscience be relied upon in any way due to the aberrant behavior publicly exhibited” by the executive, who was a founder of the firm and is no longer listed on its website.

David Brian, president of GDS Associates, said the employee who allegedly exposed himself on the Zoom call, Gary Saleba, "is no longer associated with GDS Associates and is no longer working on the LIPA project." He declined to comment on the LIPA report. Saleba couldn't be reached.

Lancman in a response Tuesday noted, "The annual savings identified in the draft report (nearly $50 million), derived from a wealth of available financial and operational data on LIPA and PSEGLI, is intended to be the 'independent, financial impact analysis' you seek." He added, "As members of the Advisory Committee, you have the opportunity to raise any perceived deficiencies in the information contained in the draft report or relied on by the commission."

Sen. Kevin Thomas (D-Levittown), who co-chairs the commission studying the future of LIPA, in an interview Tuesday, said he was “incredibly concerned” with the consultant’s behavior, which occurred via a video link while around 25 people were gathered at the meeting open to the public at Farmingdale University. He said counsel for the Senate and Assembly were separately “looking into this.”

“It is behavior that is disgusting and should have never happened,” Thomas said. “I apologize as co-chair of the LIPA Commission for it even being a topic of discussion.”

Thomas said the commission was “taking the matter very seriously,” and was “looking into everything.” That included a Freedom of Information Law request filed by the business groups, lists of payments made by the commission from its $2 million state budget, and information on how GDS was selected.

Thomas said “I kind of agree” with the business group’s assertion that an independent financial impact analysis be conducted as part of the study, rather than one that relied primarily on previous studies. “I believe they could have done more,” Thomas said.

Assemb. Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor), who co-chairs the committee, said he would wait for an analysis by the State Comptroller's office of the draft report before reworking the report. 

"I have confidence in the quality of the report," Thiele said. "That's one reason we added the comptroller to participate in this." Thiele said he notified the comptroller about the consultant's behavior. 

"From my perspective, that incident happened, it's unfortunate but it's over, and we are going to continue" with the work of the commission. "I don't think it has anything to do with the underlying credibility of the report. I think it stands on its own."

The Long Island Association worked with the consulting firm Lazard to conduct a study for the commission to consider selling LIPA to an investor-owned entity, while the Association for a Better Long Island has pushed for a process that further examines all three options for LIPA, including privatization, staying with PSEG or municipalization.

PSEG Long Island, whose contract with LIPA expires in 2025 and faces the loss of more than $80 million in annual revenue for managing the grid, also criticized the report in light of the consultant's behavior. 

The draft report by the commission is “missing significant facts and failed to thoughtfully examine all available options to determine what is in our customers’ best interests," PSEG said in a statement. "The increasingly rushed timeline of the commission to hear public comment and deliver a final report coupled with the bizarre events last week have further damaged the credibility of the report and the process utilized to manufacture it."

Thiele said he expected "opponents of public power will use the incident to delay the process and ultimately cast aspersions on the report."

PSEG, he said, "is going to do everything they can to undermine this effort, and unfortunately an incident like this is fodder for them."

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.