Fidler Staying Out Of Fight Over Kruger Companion [UPDATED]

The Brooklyn Daily reported this morning that Dorothy Turano plans on staying on as the $109,000-a-year district manager of Community Board 18 in Brooklyn – despite calls for her ouster by some community board members, in the wake of guilty pleas by her son, Dr. Michael Turano, and by State Sen. Carl Kruger, her longtime companion.

Unlike Kruger and her son, Dorothy Turano was not charged with any criminal wrongdoing. Still, there are plenty of suspicions floating around the $1 million in political bribe money that funded the Turanos’ lavish lifestyle, which included a garish $2 million home in Mill Basin.

Given the Senate Republicans’ efforts to tie Councilman Lew Fidler to corruption in the Brooklyn Democratic Party in his Senate race against Republican attorney David Storobin, Turano’s future could well emerge as a campaign issue. After all, Fidler is running for Kruger’s old seat.

I asked Fidler’s campaign for his position on Turano’s employment at the community board – and Fidler replied that while he has a personal opinion on the matter, he would decline to share it.

“I have never told independent Community Board Members whom they should hire as their District Manager or staff, and I never will,” Fidler said in a statement. “Community Board Members are independent volunteer public servants, and they need to decide for themselves whom they wish to have as their employees, their Board officers and what positions they should take on community issues.  I have my own opinion, but expressing it would be laying a heavy hand on the scale and that would be inappropriate.”

Fidler, as the local councilman, was responsible for recommending a number of the current Community Board 18 members for appointment.

Fidler’s decision not to call for Turano’s outright ouster could provide an opportunity for further attacks by his GOP opponents, but Storobin has not returned a request for comment on Turano’s situation.

According to the Brooklyn Daily article, opinion is mixed on Community Board 18 itself about whether Turano should step down:

Board member Neal Duncan said that even if Turano hasn’t been charged, she may face ethical violations.

“There are ethical questions that have arisen from her association with Kruger that she should answer,” Duncan said. “It’s the borough president’s responsibility to see if there was any breach in ethics pertaining to her position.”

Yet other board members are backing Turano, no matter what her role in the scandal was.

“Why should she step down? She hasn’t been charged, so she hasn’t done anything wrong,” board member Gardy Brazella said. “All you can do in situations like this is pray for her and hope for the best.”

The other paid employee at Community Board 18 is Marlene Berger – Kruger’s sister.

UPDATE:

Mark Zustovich, a spokesman for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who has the authority to approve or remove community board members, said the BP was also staying out of Community Board 18′s internal affairs:

“Our office has no supervisory role over District Managers—who are employees of their respective community boards—and any issues pertaining to their performance need to be addressed by the community board,” he said in a statement. “And since there have been no allegations made against any member of Community Board 18, at this time there is no reason for this office to take any action.”