October 21, 2002
FreeportNYNews Questions the Board

MR. LILKER: Can you tell me how far you are will to go with this lawsuit. By that I mean, are you willing to go as far as the United States Supreme Court?

MAYOR GLACKEN: We will win this law suit.

MR. EDWARDS: We don't feel it is the Village that is going to be doing the appealing, we feel it is the Attorney General's office that is going to be doing the appealing. I have no control where the Attorney General seeks to appeal. I am quite sure he will loose.

MR. LILKER: Eliot Spitzer has asked for a jury trial, so I guess the jury will decide and the case will be decided on the merits in the Federal Court. My question is, how far is the Board of Trustees, not Mr. Edwards ---.

MAYOR GLACKEN: (Interrupting) You've already got our answer.

MR. LILKER: You are willing to take this all the way to the Supreme Court?

MAYOR GLACKEN: I don't think, expect that will be necessary.

MR. LILKER: But you would be willing to go there?

MAYOR GLACKEN: Yes

MR. LILKER: So the tax payers will have to pay for this. Is that correct, sir?

MAYOR GLACKEN: Unless we get reimbursement from Mr. Spitzer.

MR. EDWARDS: Mr. Lilker, you miss the point. Whether or not the village wins this case and I have every reason to believe it will. It will win this case in the first shot, Federal District Court. Therefore, if it goes to the Supreme Court, from that point, it will be going to the Supreme Court, not at the behest of the village, but at the behest of the Attorney General. We don't control who or what he seeks to appeal to.

MR. LILKER: We really don't know, regardless of Mr. Edward's statement, how the jury is going to decide this case, do we?

MAYOR GLACKEN: (unintelligible)

MR. LILKER: Are we defending this law suit in house or are we obtaining outside counsel.

MAYOR GLACKEN: It has already been assigned.

MR. LILKER: Who has it been assigned to?

MAYOR GLACKEN: Farrell Fritz

MR. LILKER: Can you tell me what their rate is, sir?

MAYOR GLACKEN: You can foil it.

MR. LILKER: I am just asking you what their rate is. Is it two hundred dollars an hour? Do you know?

MAYOR GLACKEN: I answered your question. Foil it.

MR. LILKER: Do you still tape the entries that the building makes when they [the Building Department] go to inspect a home?

MAYOR GLACKEN: Do we still tape?

MR. LILKER: It was the policy of this village, at the end of the Wissler term, that an audio tape was routinely made when the building inspector entered somebody's home.

MAYOR GLACKEN: (to Edwards) Do you want to answer that?

MR. EDWARDS: It is our understanding that all inspections are taped.

MAYOR GLACKEN: We upgraded our recorders to digital recorders.

MR. LILKER: It should be pointed out that this case is not only about the violation of Latino civil rights, it is about the violation of every one's' civil rights in this village. Latinos were singled out at a rate higher than the rest of the village. That is clear in the papers. I would ask the village to reconsider -- (Glacken interrupts)

MAYOR GLACKEN: To reconsider what? Defending the suit?

MR. LILKER: Sure. I think that --

MAYOR GLACKEN: Based on what?

MR. LILKER: Based on the fact that I think you are guilty.

MAYOR GLACKEN: Well, you've prejudged the case, haven't you?

MR. LILKER: Not really. I have seen a lot of the evidence, but my question is this. Should you lose are you folks going to resign?

MAYOR GLACKEN: -- (unintelligible) -- The village is being sued, the Board is not being sued.

MR. LILKER: You said the village is being sued?

MAYOR GLACKEN: Yes.

MR. LILKER: The village is [represented by] the Board of Trustees. Is that not correct sir? Who is the Village?

MAYOR GLACKEN: The village is a municipal corporation.

MR. LILKER: Who is the Village? Who represents the Village?

MAYOR GLACKEN: We (unintelligible) represent the Village. The village itself is a municipal corporation.

MR. LILKER: Should a judgment by a jury go against the Village, will you folks resign?

MAYOR GLACKEN: Mr. Lilker, I think you are really kind of scraping bottom. That is a ridiculous supposition.

MR. LILKER: ... Thank you Your Honor. I have no more questions.