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Published: October 07, 2008 10:19 pm    print this story  

LEGISLATURE: Restaino named to Medicaid post

By Mark Scheer
E-mail Mark
Niagara Gazette

Former Niagara Falls City Court Judge Robert Restaino has found a new job in an unexpected place.

Restaino, who was removed from the bench last year by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, will now serve as Niagara County’s new Medicaid fraud specialist.

Members of the Niagara County Legislature voted unanimously to approve his appointment. The new, state-funded county position will pay a salary of $74,998. For several weeks, Restaino had been linked with the open position of corporation counsel in the City of Niagara Falls. In his new job, Restaino will be responsible for rooting out Medicaid scams throughout the county. His salary and benefits will be covered by the state through a demonstration project that is being coordinated by the state Office of Medicaid Inspector General.

“The consensus on the interview panel was that he is the right person for the job,” said Legislator Henry Wojtaszek, R-North Tonawanda, who headed a search committee of five lawmakers who conducted interviews for the job.

The search committee also included Restaino’s brother, county Social Services Commissioner Anthony Restaino, as well as county legislators Dan Sklarski, Peter Smolinski and Dennis Virtuoso. Wojtaszek said the panel interviewed five candidates for the position during a meeting Sept. 22. Wojtaszek said Deputy Social Services Commissioner Sharon Sloma sat in on the interviews for Anthony Restaino.

Robert Restaino served as Niagara Falls City Court judge from 1996 through his removal in 2008. He also served as an acting judge in Niagara County Court and Niagara County Family Court from 2001 through 2008. He is also a former Niagara County assistant public defender and had his own private practice from 1986 through 2001. He is a graduate of Niagara University and the University at Buffalo School of Law.

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended Restaino’s removal from the bench in November, saying he enganged in “an egregious and unprecedented abuse of judicial power” in March 2005 when he jailed 46 defendants after he was unable to identify the source of a ringing cell phone in his courtroom.

The commission’s eight-page decision characterized Restaino as “a petty tyrant” whose behavior constituted “a gross deviation from the proper role of a judge.”

The former judge attended Tuesday’s Legislature meeting but said he did not wish to comment on his appointment.

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