Brega Employees and Family Members Gave Massive Donations to Ilan Schoenberger

BY MARC MOSS

Update: Following the Rockland County Times breaking the story, the Rockland Journal News discovered an additional $16,000 in donations from Brega related individuals to Ilan Schoenberger, for a total of $48,000, accounting for close to 50 percent of Schoenberger’s contributions in the January-July reporting period

Brega Transport of Valley Cottage recently won a $70 million contract from the County of Rockland after years of legal battles, which pitted County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef against the County Legislature.

It appears that at least one legislator has been more than amply rewarded for his consistent support of Brega: county executive candidate Ilan Schoenberger (D-Wesley Hills/New Square).

Campaign filing reports show that during the months of April and May, Brega family members and employees, including low-level employees, gave a total of $32,000 to Ilan Schoenberger. All eight employee and family members gave the same $4,000 contribution.

Six of the donations occurred on April 11. Customer service advisor Brandon Sweeting gave $4,000. When asked by the Rockland County Times what inspired the generous donation, he said, “I don’t know if there is such a thing as a necessary inspiration, I am just a big fan of his work and he deserved it.”

Brandon claimed he had no trouble affording the large donation and also said there was no group discussion at Brega regarding the donations. The latter claim seems impossible given that several Brega-associated individuals are listed giving the same amount of money on the exact same day.

Donations came from the following persons sources said are associated with Brega:

(Note-the Rockland County Times is still in the process of confirming the identity of the listed people, however three are featured on Brega’s website and we are confident enough in our sources to publish the list at this time)

Bobbi Ann Shanahan – Customer service advisor –  $4,000 on April 11

Paul Dursi – Parts manager – $4,000 on April 11

John Nunes – Brega’s IT specialist – $4,000 on April 11

Mary Ann Paccione – Mother-in-law of one of the Brega brothers – $4,000 on April 11

Joanne Bay – wife of Brega maintenance manager – $4,000  on April 27

James Boyle – Brega transport manager – $4,000  on April 11

Brandon Sweeting – Customer service advisor – $4,000  on April 11

Francis H. Walker, III  – Service manager – $4,000 on April 27

Link to donation records on NY Board of Elections site:
http://www.elections.ny.gov:8080/reports/rwservlet?cmdkey=efs_sch_report+p_filer_id%3DC22854+p_e_year%3D2013+p_freport_id%3DK+p_transaction_code%3DA

Michael Hull of New City Patch contributed to this report