Politics in the seaside city of Long Beach, LI, are as shady as the sand under its boardwalk.
One City Council member is accused of collecting unemployment checks while drawing a salary. Another is collecting a disability pension while out running marathons.
And state records obtained by The Post show part-time council members claiming to work full-time hours, which could result in fatter pensions.
Michael Fagen, who is paid $19,000 a year as a member of the five-seat City Council, collected unemployment checks from January until August 2010, according to City Manager Charles Theofan, who reported him to authorities.
Part-time workers are allowed to get unemployment benefits if they lose their main gig, but are required to report any such work weekly to the state Labor Department.
Theofan said a Labor Department investigation resulted in a criminal referral to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. He said he was told by the DA’s Office that Fagen would be arrested.
Chris Munzing, a spokesman for DA Kathleen Rice, would only say “this is an active investigation.” Labor officials wouldn’t comment on a pending case.
Fagen, 54, who drives a car with both an expired registration and inspection sticker, hung up on a Post reporter who called seeking comment.
His fellow council member, John McLaughlin, is a marathon runner and triathlete who retired from the FDNY in 2001 as an asthmatic and collects an $86,000-a-year disability pension, tax-free.
Theofan, while blowing the whistle on Fagen, was himself signing off on time sheets for council members indicating they had worked 40 hours a week. But a 2005 city-council resolution put the work week at six hours.
Theofan explained the discrepancy as a mere accounting mechanism designed to streamline the city’s payroll operations.
But the payroll records reported by Long Beach to the state comptroller’s office show Thomas Sofield Jr. and Mona Goodman — two of the council members eligible for state pensions — putting in full-time weeks for the last several years. Sofield, who works as a lawyer, said the inflated hours were a bookkeeping issue.