The NCC Exposed Blog

In 2016, as the coronation of Dr. Kenneth Saunders was appearing more and more inevitable, an anonymous blog appeared called “NCC Exposed.” It told the alleged story of how Nassau GOP operatives led by Dean Jerry Kornbluth schemed to place Saunders in the to position in order to benefit those wanting a piece of the 200+ million dollar college budget. It was quickly shared amongst the faculty. Soon the administration and the board of trustees got wind of the blog and attempted to publicly refute it at a board meeting on February 9, 2016. What transpired was an absolute circus:

 

The Middle States visiting team mentioned the above video in its exit report as an example of the dysfunction of the college and its concern over the legitimacy of the search process for the college president.

For the sake of historical conservation, I will cut and paste the text that I saved from the NCC Exposed blog. Unfortunately, I was unable to save later updates of the blog (which is truly unfortunate because they revealed more damning allegations). If the actual author or anyone reading this has the final blog post update, please post it in the comment section or send to me.

NCC Exposed (from February, 4, 2016)

 

The Making of a Candidate: Dr. Kenneth Saunders

The Making of a Candidate
How Kenneth Saunders became the NCC’s GOP Sweetheart

 

During the spring of 2013, in the aftermath of the failed presidency of Donald Astrab, three candidates were announced by the Nassau Community College Presidential Search Committee.  Officer-In-Charge, and former Executive Vice President under Astrab, Kenneth Saunders, was not one of them.  Many supporters and friends of Saunders saw the scales tipped in favor of recently retired Justice Anthony Marano, a political insider with no higher education administration experience.  Saunders alleged bias. Chancellor Nancy Zimpher stepped in and called the search “beyond the point of investigation” and urged a do-over.

Enter Jerry Kornbluth:

In May of 1999, NCC Math Professor Jerrold A. Kornbluth pleaded guilty in the Federal Court’s Eastern District to 1 count of felony tax fraud and filing false statements (case# CR 99-131).  He was sentenced to 6 months of home detention and 3 years probation plus a $10,000 fine.  Shortly after regaining his freedom, Jerrold, now retired from NCC and exclusively calling himself Jerry, was hired as the Academic Vice President of Interboro Institute.  Interboro was a for-profit college that appeared to prey on high school dropouts by offering a wide array of AOS degrees with little out of pocket cost (but plenty of student loan debt).  During Kornbluth’s tenure as Vice President, Interboro Institute was investigated by both NYSED and by the Federal Government for financial aid and academic fraud.  It appears that everyone involved at Interboro escaped jail time possibly because they were ordered to pay government back and did.  Nevertheless, Interboro surrendered its charter and closed its doors in 2007.  In early 2013, Kornbluth returned to NCC as a full-time instructor. His time as a professor was short because in September of that year, Acting President Saunders appointed Kornbluth to the position of Acting Dean of Professional Studies. Professional Studies includes the departments of Hospitality Business and, ironically, Business and Accounting, Economics and Finance, and Criminal Justice.  Kornbluth, a felon and refugee from a crooked for-profit college, has become one of Saunder’s biggest supporters and closest advisors.

Enter Don Monti:

Don Monti is a big-time Nassau County Developer.  His company Renaissance Downtowns has been awarded many public-funded contracts for revitalizing downtown areas.  Two examples include “Source the Station” in Huntington Station and the “Renew Hempstead” project right next door to NCC.  In November 2012, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano selected Monti as the master developer of the 77-acre site surrounding the Nassau Coliseum and abutting the Nassau Community College campus.  Renaissance Downtowns donated cash to the “Friends of Ed Mangano” fund right before winning the bid, and then again immediately after.

The address listed for the Renaissance Downtown Corporation is 9 Gerhard Rd., Plainview.  Located at 9 Gerhard Road is the Marriot Residence Inn, owned by Michael Johnston. Michael Johnston and Don Monti are partners in several companies including the Concorde Hotel Group and Destination LI, all located at 9 Gerhard Rd.  In September 2012, Johnston, with only a bachelor’s degree, was hired as an instructor in the Hospitality Business department.  Kornbluth is his Dean.

Becoming the political candidate:

With Jerry Kornbluth in a major administrative position and Don Monti extending an appendage into Nassau Community College, the ascension of Kenneth Saunders to top candidate appeared to begin.  The first step seemed to be the effort to connect Saunders to the political establishment.  Don Monti and Michael Johnston immediately appointed Saunders to the advisory board of their organization; Destination LI. Saunders joined a who’s-who of county political players including (the yet ostracized and indicted) Adam Skelos.  The next step was possibly securing NCC BOT votes.  Kornbluth struck up a relationship with Trustee John Degrace who, years earlier, resigned from the Nassau County Board of Elections a short time after allegations of racial voter suppression emerged. In July of 2014, Kenneth Saunders and Nassau County Supervisor Ed Mangano announced an extension of the Volunteer Firefighter’s Recruitment and Retention Scholarship.  This was exciting news to Republican player and Board of Trustees Chairperson Jorge Gardyn whose company, IOMR, services the medical needs of numerous volunteer fire departments.  In September of 2014, Jerry Kornbluth referred Student Trustee and Presidential Search Committee member Patrick Deegan to an internship at Destination LI.  Soon after, Destination LI hosted a rally on campus in which Don Monti invited students to a $150 per person event at the Crest Hollow Country Club (owned by Monti’s family) to discuss issues concerning millennials.  6 days after the Destination LI event, Saunders was honored at the “EAC Network’s Annual Party to Protect Children Event”, once again, at the Crest Hollow Country Club.  There, Saunders was recognized for his “commitment to helping children and people in need.”  Perhaps not coincidentally, Jerry Kornbluth was on the Event Committee.

Several stumbling blocks occurred in early summer of 2015.  Kenneth Saunders was unable to garner 6 votes to become president.  It became immediately obvious that every Republican appointee on the Board was in full support of Saunders except Anthony Cornachio.   In an interview with Newsday, Trustee Cornachio revealed that the student Trustee Patrick Deegan cast a vote for Saunders. It is not known whether Deegan revealed to the rest of the Board that he received employment with Saunders involvement.  Frustrated with the impasse, the SUNY BOT ended Saunder’s tenure as acting president and presented the NCC BOT with a list of possible interim presidential candidates.  Disregarding the SUNY suggestions, the board chose Dr. Thomas Dolan, recently retired superintendent of Great Neck Schools; a man with no higher education experience. Dr. Dolan had very close ties to Jerry Kornbluth because Jane Kornbluth, Jerry’s wife, was employed as an English teacher while Dolan was the principal at Sewanhaka HS District.  Jane, like Jerry, returned to teaching after a brief retirement and was hired to work, once again, under Dolan at Great Neck Middle School where he was the Superintendent.

The shoulder-rubbing with the political establishment appeared to continue.  In November of 2015, the NCC Foundation hosted a Gala honoring Ed Mangano and Acting NCPD Commissioner Thomas Krumpter.  The Crest Hollow Country Club was listed as a major sponsor.  Earlier in the year, it was announced that a $40 million Police Academy was to be built on the grounds of Nassau Community College.  Major funding was to be provided by the Nassau County Police Department Foundation, a non-profit organization in which Don Monti is listed as an Advisory Board member. 

In December of 2015, Saunders, accompanied by Kornbluth, allegedly met with the Valley Stream Republican Club.  It is important to note that the Executive Leader of the Valley Stream Republican Club is NCC Trustee John DeGrace.

More recently, the NCC GOP establishment tightened its grips on the political patronage machine by appointing Kate Murray to be the general counsel.  All Republican members, including the Student Trustee Jennifer Borzym whose father has a long history of donating money to Republican candidates, voted in favor of hiring Murray without a search and with very little discussion. Three of the Republican Trustees had contributed to her ill-fated campaign for District Attorney.  Additionally, the father of the Student Trustee also contributed to Murray.  Those contributions were never disclosed. SUNY is currently investigating.

On Thursday, February 4th, Kenneth Saunders, one of 4 candidates for permanent president of Nassau Community College, participated in a town hall style interview with the campus community.  Many people on campus are convinced that the “fix is in” and Saunders, extremely unpopular with administrators, faculty, and professional staff, will have the 6 votes needed to be become the President of Nassau Community College.  It is feared that Saunders may act more to serve his new GOP friends and developers than to serve as the leader of the college community.