Above: Video footage of Monticello mayor Gordon Jenkins ranting and throwing a clock while in a booking room on a drunk driving arrest in November 2013. (Warning: There's a lot of profanity. Jenkins throws the clock at the 1:21:55 mark.)
Monticello's troubled mayor, Gordon Jenkins, has been removed from office by a three-judge panel of the New York State Supreme Court's Third Appellate Division, according to a decision the court released on Thursday, April 2.
Citing a "serious pattern of abuse of authority and misbehavior," the court wrote that Jenkins is "hereby removed from the public offices of Mayor and Village Manager of the Village of Monticello." The removal appears to take effect immediately.
The court's decision to remove a sitting official from office is a rare one. The attorney for the group of Monticello residents who filed the petition asking the court to remove Jenkins said last year that it has only been done "a handful of times."
But Jenkins is an extraordinary case. He is legendary in Sullivan County and beyond for his outrageous antics while in office.
In 2012, Jenkins punched a police officer. In 2013, a video of Jenkins cursing and throwing a clock while waiting in a police booking room after he was detained for drunk driving went viral. He has been investigated for awarding a "suspiciously low" no-bid contract for demolishing an asbestos-filled former courthouse.
In their ruling, the judges cited several examples of Jenkin's behavior that led to their decision to remove him.
The first was when Jenkins was overheard threatening to withhold funding from the village's police department unless the criminal charges against him were "resolved."
"[Jenkins'] attempt to influence the disposition of criminal charges against him by threatening to use his public office to withhold municipal funding constituted a clear abuse of authority," the court wrote in its ruling.
The second incident was Jenkins' overnight detention by Monticello police, during which he hurled threats, abuse and a wall-mounted clock at the police officers who worked for him. All of it was caught on tape.
The video evidence was damning. The judges wrote:
Considering the length of his detention in highly uncomfortable circumstances, some degree of anger and frustration on [Jenkins'] part is understandable; nevertheless, the video reveals that many of his objectionable remarks were made shortly after his arrival at the police station ... We agree that the unrebutted evidence establishes that respondent attempted to use his public office to intimidate and coerce the officers into giving him special treatment, and that such conduct constitutes self-dealing and an abuse of authority.
Finally, the judges discussed a "suspiciously low" $5,000 no-bid contract Jenkins awarded to a contractor in 2013 to demolish an asbestos-laden former courthouse. The contractor, who reportedly dumped the debris illegally in a nearby town, apparently did not know that the building contained asbestos, and subsequently sued the village.
"These actions exposed the Village to substantial costs and liabilities, and respondent thus violated a public trust," the judges wrote.
Together, all of this behavior demonstrates "a sufficiently serious pattern of abuse of authority and misbehavior to warrant [Jenkin's] removal," the court ruled.
Read the full decision from the court below:
Michael Greco Et Al., Petitioners, V Memorandum and Judgment Gordon c. Jenkins
Previous coverage
A bad week for Monticello officials, August 14, 2014
Monticello mayor arrested, February 12, 2010
