Goldstein Loses Latest Challenge To Ethics Violations Finding

MAMARONECK, NY — A planning board member's fight to keep her seat has already cost Mamaroneck taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees, but the legal wrangling may soon be coming to an end.

In 2019, the ethics board recommended that Cynthia Goldstein be removed from her position on the planning board because she failed to promptly recuse herself from the decision-making process in which she stood to potentially benefit from the outcome of those decisions. She refused to accept the ethics ruling and fought to keep her seat in a costly, more than year-long legal process.

Goldstein had argued that the ethics rules she is accused of violating are unenforceable in their vagueness. On Wednesday, the court disagreed, ruling that the ethics guidelines met the criteria of being easily understood by a person of “ordinary intelligence” and not written in a way that encourages “indiscriminate or arbitrary” enforcement.

The ruling marks Goldstein’s second courtroom loss in as many weeks.

Mamaroneck Mayor Tom Murphy chided members of his own party for what he referred to as an “ongoing saga.” He expressed some hope that the expensive appeal process will be put to rest, now that the court has ruled.

“My hope is that these three District Leaders will now accept the reasonable judgement of the courts and desist from wasting anymore of the taxpayers money on wasteful and unjustified litigation,” Murphy wrote in a statement this week. “Political leaders of the Village should be helping solve problems, not creating them. I am disappointed in the Executive Committee leadership of the Democratic Party (of which I have been a member for 42 years) for not only staying silent on these matters, but actually supporting these lawsuits that have cost us all thousands and thousands of dollars.”

The ethics rulings and subsequent lawsuits stem from Goldstein’s participation in a planning commission matter involving a proposed development at Hampshire Country Club without disclosing that she owns residential property which abuts the site. She was also found to have improperly participated in the process overseeing a sewer project that could directly affect her private residence.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article was accompanied by a photograph of the sign for the Mamaroneck Town Center. The story relates to the Village of Mamaroneck Planning Board and not the Town of Mamaroneck.