Westchester DA DiFiore slams report on nanny probe

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore lashed out at a Department of Social Services investigator -- and Independence Party official -- whose emails were leaked Tuesday in a published report that accused DiFiore of pulling strings to get her former live-in housekeeper welfare benefits.

"I've done nothing wrong in any respect," DiFiore said Tuesday in a statement. "The person quoted in this illegally leaked email has a well known political agenda that she has been carrying on against me for at least a decade and this appears to be more of the same."

In a yearlong DSS investigation, the county agency has been examining why DiFiore's ex-nanny/housekeeper was approved for food stamps and Medicaid benefits after having been rejected three times, the New York Post reported.

DiFiore has never been told she was being investigated, a law-enforcement source told Newsday Tuesday.

The Post cited several internal emails from Dhyalma Vazquez, a county anti-fraud investigator, alleging that the application by Maria Buchanan, 58, was given the benefits due to DiFiore's political clout. Vazquez is also the vice-chair of the Westchester County Independence Party.

"OK we got to the bottom of this case. This was a political favor for Janet DiFiore's maid. It is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE," said one June 2011 email, according to the Post.

The Vazquez emails from June and July 2011 also charge that DiFiore had Buchanan's case reopened after the Yonkers office denied benefits, the Post reported.

DiFiore paid Buchanan $200 a week in cash, the Post said, but the housekeeper also received $315 a month in Social Security disability benefits.

In documents, Buchanan said she had worked for DiFiore from 1987 until May 2010, the Post said.

"The question is why the special favor. Why are cases being opened in Central Office ... Just because she is the District Attorney does not mean she is above the law!" Vazquez wrote in an email cited by the Post.

DiFiore's husband, attorney Dennis Glazer, has been in a running battle with the chairman of the Independence Party, Giulio Cavallo, for several years.

Cavallo filed a federal lawsuit in 2008 in which he charged that Glazer tried to strong-arm him into granting DiFiore the Independence Party line when she first ran for district attorney in 2005. DiFiore, who ran as a Republican, has switched to the Democratic Party. The Independence Party line has long been sought by Republicans seeking countywide election because there are more registered Democrats than Republicans in the county.

Cavallo did not return calls seeking comment. Efforts to reach Buchanan and Vazquez were unsuccessful.

A spokeswoman for Westchester County declined to comment, citing confidentiality rules for social services cases and the law-enforcement investigation "if one exists."

With Ken Schachter and Christian Wade