SULLIVAN COUNTY –– Tensions flared between Legislative Chairman Rob Doherty and District Attorney Meagan Galligan during Thursday’s meetings, mostly due to a proposal to shift an investigator position from her office to the Sheriff’s Office’s Civil Division.

Galligan said such a shift would be “ill-advised,” citing how the Sheriff’s Patrol Division and PBA would feel about the move, as well as the notion that it would be “budget neutral.”

Galligan said she spoke to Sheriff Mike Schiff and that he was opposed to the amendment - a position the Sheriff affirmed when he arrived later in the meeting.

“If you insist upon undermining the district attorney’s participation in a Child Advocacy Center we created, he doesn’t intend to fill the position,” said Galligan to Doherty. “He’s not poaching from the district attorney. Only you are doing that.” 

Galligan claimed she had put in a fill-vacancy form for the position with the County Manager’s office in May 2021 but never got a response. 

“This is gamesmanship at its finest,” said Galligan. “I can handle myself. I can meet with this guy and tell him that the Legislature abolished the position because certain members are upset with or politically unhappy with me. But I ask you to ask yourselves whether that’s the right thing - whether the Child Advocacy Center and the Office of the District Attorney should be casualties of some political warfare.” 

District 2 Legislator Nadia Rajsz asked whose idea the position shift was.

Doherty said he and County Manager Josh Potosek thought it would be better in the Sheriff’s Office, noting that the position has been vacant for several months.

Galligan questioned Potosek’s involvement in the decision, citing a conversation she had with him earlier in the week about the request from May 2021, to which she said he told her he was “going to get right on it and get it done.” 

“There was no conversation that the position should be abolished,” Galligan added. 

Galligan said as the highest law enforcement official in the County, it’s been her priority to create a coalition and a bond among law enforcement in the County, and that she’s done that. 

“I’m not going to have it undermined by any one of you,” she pointedly told the Legislature.

Doherty replied that there were several reasons the decision was made, noting that Galligan refused to release an autopsy report to the County’s Family Services (DFS) Legal team after a child was killed in Woodbourne.

“She had to be dragged into Family Court, where she was told, ‘You have no standing in this court. You have 30 minutes to hand it over,’” recalled Doherty. “But meanwhile, she would have had to hand it over to the defense, but she wouldn’t hand it over to DFS Legal.”

When asked if he was basing this decision on just that one incident, Doherty said he had several examples.

“Did you have to take the DA to court to get an autopsy to have the children removed from that household?” Doherty asked County Attorney Michael McGuire.

“The children had been removed, so that’s false,” said Galligan. 

“Let’s be clear, I want to hear this out of your mouth,” said Doherty, raising his voice. 

“Do we really need to go down this path?” Majority Leader Alan Sorensen asked Doherty.

“We do need to go down this path,” said Doherty. “The children of this County are being abused, and she is letting it happen.” 

Galligan acknowledged that she did deny the release of the autopsy report in that case, arguing it became “tactically, legally necessary to segregate one person who had access and control at certain times over [the victim] from another to try to get the truth.”

She added that it was her professional opinion that public release or dissemination to attorneys for either one of the two individuals charged with the child’s murder would compromise further interviews with them. 

“We hold the cards when we interrogate people. We don’t show them and then let them explain it away,” said Galligan. “That was the basis of my objection to the release of the autopsy report. I stood by it then, I stand by it now.”

Sorensen praised the job Galligan has done as DA, calling the dialogue that transpired “embarrassing.” He added that he wouldn’t support the position shift. As a result of a lack of majority support, the change - requiring an amendment to the about-to-be-passed 2023 County Budget - never moved forward.

Schiff, who arrived late, said this was a discussion the Legislature, Sheriff’s Office and DA’s Office should have had behind closed doors. He thanked the Legislature for putting the amendment off for the time being so they could have further discussions that would be “positive” and “help the County.” 

“With crime going up and the things we’re looking at, we don’t have the time to harm our efficiency,” said Schiff. “We have to be doing the best job that we can do every time and [with] every crime. These types of things detract from that. We have to make sure we don’t fall into those traps and make those mistakes. We have to work together.”