Posted on 05/18/2004 3:21:33 AM PDT by sidewalk
Hubbard probe lacks testimony of accusers Albany -- Mary Jo White calls on lawyer, clients to respond to her requests for statements in inquiry
A probe into alleged misconduct by Bishop Howard Hubbard has yielded "substantial and significant information" from more than 200 supporters and critics of the church leader but nothing from the lawyer who sparked the inquiry, Mary Jo White said Monday.
The former federal prosecutor hired in February by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany to conduct the investigation said she hasn't spoken with attorney John Aretakis or his clients.
"Mr. Aretakis was the first person we contacted after our investigation was announced," White said. "To date, and despite repeated oral and written requests, he and his clients ... have chosen not to cooperate.
"We are issuing this statement as a public invitation," White said in a written statement Monday, noting that the probe will be completed "with or without" them. She has not set a deadline for release of her report.
White is investigating allegations that Hubbard was sexually involved in the 1970s with Thomas Zalay, a 25-year-old Albany man who killed himself in his parents' home in 1978, and a claim by 40-year-old Anthony Bonneau of Schenectady that the bishop paid him for sex in Washington Park when he was a teenage runaway.
The accusations surfaced at news conferences arranged by Aretakis, who has filed several lawsuits against the diocese on behalf of people who say they were abused by priests and who maintain the diocese did little when they later sought help.
Hubbard denies any breach of his priestly vow of celibacy, and no lawsuits related to the allegations raised by Aretakis have been filed.
As part of her probe, White is also looking into the circumstances surrounding the February suicide of 57-year-old Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center Hospital chaplain, the Rev. John Minkler. The Watervliet priest was publicly identified as the author of an anonymous 1995 letter to then-New York Archbishop John O'Connor accusing Hubbard of homosexuality, inappropriate theological behavior and other transgressions. Aretakis initially made the letter public.
Minkler died shortly after signing a document for the diocese that disavowed authorship of the letter.
On Monday, Aretakis called White "disingenuous" for issuing her statement without warning him in advance. "I do not appreciate being sandbagged," Aretakis said, claiming White's statement contradicted her vow not to discuss the case until the investigation is concluded.
He said he would meet with White on two conditions: She must give him the complete "commitment letter" she received from the diocese's Sexual Misconduct Review Board that hired her, and she must conduct the meeting publicly.
"I want everybody to see her process," Aretakis said.
He said he is unwilling to open his files to a lawyer who, rather than being an objective observer, is required to serve the interests of her client and his adversary, the Albany Diocese.
"I haven't trusted her from the beginning," Aretakis said. "And my clients don't feel comfortable with her."
White said Aretakis is free to meet with her staff and to look over the terms of the contract, which she plans to make public at the investigation's end.
She said her staff has met all of the conditions Aretakis originally set for his cooperation "that were reasonable." Written questions were provided as an option, she said, but neither he nor his clients responded to them or to five letters she sent.
By refusing to participate in the investigation, Aretakis may have surrendered his ability to complain if White determines there isn't enough information to substantiate claims against Hubbard.
"What comes to mind is 'live by the sword, die by the sword,' " Albany Law School professor Laurie Shanks said of Monday's development. "Normally, a lawyer who chooses not to respond publicly has clients' interests at heart. But Mr. Aretakis started this by having a press conference. It's pretty weird."
"It certainly undercuts his position," she said. "You can't have it all ways."
wow it's been HOW long?!?!? since febuary? i remember white saying that the first thing she did was try to talk to aretakis??
i dont know i try to answer letters within a few weeks of getting them. especally if they have to do with work.
Mary Jo White, it appears, has not ALWAYS been so eager to talk with Aretakis:
Allegations against investigators
3/12/2004 6:47 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff
More allegations in the Capital Region clergy sex abuse claims.
This time they are directed toward investigators. Attorney John Aretakis said they are acting inappropriately.
Mary Jo White is the independent investigator hired by the Albany Diocese to examine claims Bishop Howard Hubbard had homosexual relationships in the 1970s.
White said she will also look into the death of Father John Minkler, who was found dead at his home in Watervliet in February. Minkler had served as a chaplain for the VA Hospital in Albany.
Aretakis claimed investigators interviewed witnesses at inappropriate locations, such as Minkler's office in the VA Hospital, which is federal property. Aretakis also said White's investigative team won't allow him to be present when they question his clients.
Mary Jo White's office said one of its investigators did do an interview last week at the VA and the investigator was not aware of a requirement to seek prior permission. An apology was issued to the hospital administrators.
The VA hospital called the interviewing "inappropriate and regrets the interview took place," adding there is no connection between the medical center and the investigation.
A spokesman for the Albany Diocese said the diocese is not involved in this part of the investigation and will not comment.
"Weird" is an understatement as a description of this "lawyer's" behavior.
Aretakis resists probe on Hubbard
By: Robert Cristo , The Record 05/18/2004
http://www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11670482&BRD=1170&PAG=461&dept_id=7021&rfi=6
Investigators hired by the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese to look into allegations of sexual misconduct against Bishop Howard Hubbard claim to have run into roadblocks while attempting to interview alleged clergy sex abuse clients of attorney John Aretakis.
According to a statement re-leased Monday by former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, in the past three months, her investigators have interviewed more than 200 people, including those who have been outspoken critics of Hubbard.
White refuses to publicly discuss her investigation until it is completed, but adds in the statement that "we've obtained substantial and significant" information regarding the allegations against the longtime bishop.
White claims, however, her in- vestigators have received "no cooperation" from Aretakis or any of the nearly 80 alleged clergy sex abuse victims he has represented throughout the state.
She further states that Aretakis was the "first person we contacted" after she was retained by the diocese for more than $700 an hour to settle the storm of controversy surrounding Hubbard once and for all.
The statement also claims that her office has cooperated with requests and conditions set by Aretakis that should have opened the door for communication with him and his clients, but that never happened.
White said her investigators contacted Aretakis by telephone as a last-ditch effort to speak with his clients and to retrieve potential key documents in the case.
White claims Aretakis responded by saying he would not cooperate unless she provided him with an "engagement letter" (or contract) with the Albany Diocesan Sexual Misconduct Review Board, a request White would not oblige until her investigation is complete.
"As we explained to Mr. Aretakis in a March 26, 2004, letter, he is free to examine the letter at a meeting with us, and we intend to make the letter public at the time we issue our report," said White.
Aretakis has publicly criticized the objectivity of White's investigation because she is being paid by the diocese.
"She's being paid by one side of a two-sided conflict. ... I don't trust her," said Aretakis. "How do I know if she's manufacturing things and believing what she wants?
"She wants me to open my files to her. ... Why would I help someone hired by my adversary (Hubbard), who publicly calls me a liar?" he added.
Aretakis also wants to see White's contract with the diocese to get a clearer understanding of who she answers to and what her role as an independent investigator actually is.
"It could be one or 20 pages. ... We don't even know if she has a duty to turn information over to the bishop," said Aretakis.
The outspoken attorney said he would like to sit down in public with White and address those and many other issues in the near future.
"I'm asking Ms. White to sit down and talk and then take questions from the media," said Aretakis. "I fear no questions, but everything she does is shrouded in secrecy."
White was hired in February after a slew of allegations were lodged against Hubbard, including charges that Thomas Zalay committed suicide in 1978 as a result of a relationship he allegedly had with the bishop, and claims by a former male prostitute that Hubbard solicited sex from him 30 years ago in Albany's Washington Park.
A short time later, Aretakis released a letter allegedly written by Rev. John Minkler claiming a number of priests were engaging in homosexual behavior, including Hubbard.
Minkler committed suicide in his Watervliet home just days after signing an affidavit stating he did not write the letter.
White has released no timetable on when her report will be made public.
From http://bettnet.dyndns.org/blog/weblog.php
Lawyer v. lawyer in Albany
Just how objective can an investigator hired by the investigatee be? That’s the question in Albany as former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White (apparently cut from the Janet Reno mold) goes to war with a lawyer who has accused Bishop Howard Hubbard of impropriety. Remember that White was hired by Hubbard after he was accused of having had homosexual relationships and allowing a homosexual network of priests to operate in his diocese.
So White went public this week with her attempt to get the lawyer, John Aretakis, and his clients to take part in his investigation. But Aretakis responds, appropriately I think, that his clients don’t trust White since she works for Hubbard and because she won’t hold a public meeting. Besides, he is unwilling to open his files for a lawyer who represents someone he may be filing a lawsuit against in the future. Simple legal profession ethics would prevent that, I would expect (although I guess my lawyer-readers will correct me if I’m wrong.) Of course, Aretakis himself might be grandstanding, which would not be a surprise to me after watching his colleagues in Boston do it for past two years.
Posted by: Domenico Bettinelli on May 19, 04 | 12:21 pm | Profile
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