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The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)

July 16, 2006 Sunday FINAL EDITION

TWO LAWYERS WHO COULD AFFECT THE FUTURE OF SYRACUSE; THE CAROUSEL TAX DEAL FIGHT

BYLINE: By Greg Munno Staff writer
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1LENGTH: 291 words

John A. Cirando works on the 10th floor of the M&T Bank Building in Syracuse. David M. Garber has an office on the sixth floor.

Cirando bleeds New York Giants blue. Garber's heart is emblazoned with New York Yankees pinstripes.

Both grew up and live in the Syracuse. Garber went to public school, Cirando parochial.

Cirando is active at his church, St. John the Evangelist; Garber at Temple Adath Yeshurun.

Garber and Cirando both shy from publicity and favor the legal research and writing aspects of their jobs.

Cirando eats lots of vegetables - he even has a salad named after him at La Cuisine on North Salina Street. Garber's wife describes him a carnivore who often enjoys steak.

Both men made profound changes in their lives after recent medical troubles. Cirando had open heart surgery and has since lost 60 pounds. Garber had a hip replacement and had to give up playing handball and competitive running.

But for all their similarities and differences, it is their reputations as lawyers that have thrust them into the middle of the raging political and legal battle between Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll and the Common Council.

At the heart of the conflict is a deal between Driscoll and developer Robert Congel, owner of Carousel Center mall. The deal provides the city with new revenue from the expansion of the mall in exchange for the city dropping its appeal of a court ruling that favored the developers.

Driscoll implemented the deal and dropped the appeal without approval of the council and against the advice of his chief lawyer, Corporation Counsel Terri Bright, who was fired.

Enter Garber, who is now interim corporation counsel, and Cirando, who will attempt to appeal the court ruling in favor of Congel on behalf of the Common Council.

DAVID GARBER: HE'S SYRACUSE MAYORS' LEGAL ACE IN THE HOLE

BYLINE: By Greg Munno Staff writer
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A16 LENGTH: 1038 words

When David Garber learned that he needed a hip replacement five years ago and would have to give up the sports he loves, he uttered a phrase he often uses when life throws him a curve - "That's baseball."

"I remember that so well," said Peter Carmen, one of Garber's running buddies who is general counsel for the Oneida Indian Nation and a former partner with Garber at Mackenzie Hughes. "He has this amazing ability to roll with the punches, to stay cool under pressure. It's one of the things that makes him so effective."

It was that attitude that allowed Garber to do battle with a combative common council during his stint as corporation counsel for former Mayor Lee Alexander.

And it allowed Garber to maintain a solid legal reputation even after it was discovered that Alexander had been extorting money from people hoping to do business with the city.

"David had nothing to do with that mess," said Richard A. Hennessy Jr., the former Onondaga County district attorney.

Alexander, a Democrat, served as mayor from 1970 to 1985, when he decided not to seek re-election to a fifth term. A federal grand jury indicted him in July 1987 on 40 counts of accepting bribes and kickbacks on city contracts worth $1.5 million. He pleaded guilty Jan. 6, 1988, to racketeering, conspiracy to obstruct a government investigation and tax evasion and served 51/2 years in federal prison.

Carmen said that subsequent Syracuse mayors, including Republican Roy Bernardi, wouldn't have gone to Garber for legal advice unless they were confident he was clean. "Everyone knew the prosecutors scrutinized David, put him under the microscope, and they didn't find anything," Carmen said.

Garber said he had no clue of Alexander's dealings. If he knew of any of the wrongdoings, he would have gone to the district attorney, he said. He added that he has heard Alexander and his cronies referred to him as a "Boy Scout" and went to great lengths to hide their activities from him.

When Alexander's dealings were uncovered, Garber said, it was the most crushing day of his life.

"In so many ways, Lee was an incredible mayor," Garber said. "He hired professional people and demanded top-notch work from all of them. What we didn't know at the time - and what I don't think we could have known - was that there was also a shadow administration, a second administration, that was carrying out these criminal acts."

Sources told The Post-Standard in 1984 that Garber had been named in a grand jury report that stemmed from an investigation into charges by former police Lt. George Georgiade that Alexander had paid him to "commit political dirty tricks."

There were no indictments in the case, and lawyers for Alexander, former police Chief Thomas J. Sardino and Garber successfully argued that the grand jury reports be sealed forever. Representing Garber was his father, Morris Garber, who had been a popular City Court judge. Then-Chief Assistant District Attorney John Cirando argued unsuccessfully before the state Supreme Court Appellate Division that the reports be made public. Cirando and Garber declined comment on the Georgiade probe.

"The court sealed the reports, so I cannot comment on them, even to this day," Garber said. Garber left City Hall before Alexander was indicted in an unrelated investigation. He joined Mackenzie Hughes and developed expertise in appellate and insurance law to go along with his municipal experience.

Garber told reporters at the time of his departure that he was looking forward to leaving the limelight.

Hennessy, Carmen and others, like Mackenzie Hughes partner Art Wentlandt, all used the word "scholarly" when describing Garber.

"He doesn't like direct attention, but isn't afraid of it," Wentlandt said. "He's steady, competent."

Wentlandt said Garber is a key member of Mackenzie Hughes and that the firm looks forward to his return.

Garber said that's his intention.

"This is only temporary," said Garber, whose new role with the city has been made easier because there are still several people in the corporation counsel's office and City Hall he knows from the Alexander days.

He also has been active with city cases under Driscoll before Terri Bright was fired, handling the city's appeal of an eminent domain case involving the county's Midland Avenue sewage treatment plant and the city's tax dispute with some suburban towns over Hancock Airport.

Garber is a voracious reader, and rattled off the titles of several books he recently finished. He's currently reading "31 Days," by Barry Werth, a book about the days between Richard Nixon's resignation and his pardon by Gerald Ford.

But those who know Garber well say he's not entirely a nose-in-the-books, play-by-the-rules kind of guy.

"This will stir up some trouble," Carmen said. "But I'll tell you that against the orders of his doctor and his wife, David will sneak out of his house before anyone is up on Saturday mornings to go running with us."

More on Garber
Past jobs/posts: He was corporation counsel for Mayor Lee Alexander from 1975 to 1985, and has advised Syracuse mayors, regardless of party, ever since he became one of the top municipal lawyers in Central New York.

Family:Wife, Dr. Joyce Garber, a psychiatrist, and three children: Ari, a graduate student at Columbia University finishing a doctoral program in nutrition and public health; Sarah, a third-year medical student at the University of Vermont and former Peace Corps volunteer in the West African nation of Burkina Faso; and Noah, a second-year law student at Syracuse University.

Education: Bachelor of arts from the State University of New York at Binghamton (1967); Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago Law School (1970).

Civic: Co-chair of Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll's Transition Committee. He has been involved in many organizations, including the YMCA, the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, the United Way, the Volunteer Lawyers' Project, Temple Adath Yeshurun.

Fun fact: Garber and his wife have always had at least one parrot and, at times, as many as three. Their current parrot, Tim, briefly went to the University of Chicago with the Garbers' daughter to serve as the mascot of the college's softball team.

JOHN CIRANDO: NO STRANGER TO THE APPELLATE COURT SYSTEM
BYLINE: By Greg Munno Staff writer
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A16LENGTH: 958 words

When you work for John Cirando, you get to know - and fear - "the look."
He tilts his head down, raises his eyes and brow up, and peers over his glasses incredulously.

"It's the non-verbalization of "you've got to be kidding me,"' said Richard A. Hennessy Jr., the former Onondaga County district attorney who employed Cirando as his second-in-command.

Current District Attorney William Fitzpatrick knows the look well. He credits Cirando - whom he calls "a dear friend" - with keeping him in Central New York.

As a law student, Fitzpatrick argued a case at a "moot," or practice, trial Cirando presided over. He encouraged Fitzpatrick to apply for a job at the district attorney's office and worked to get the future district attorney hired.

"At that point, the DA's office hired young lawyers based on family and political connections, and I always thought I would return to New York City, where I grew up," Fitzpatrick said. "John changed my life, and he changed the way this office did business."

Despite the talent Fitzpatrick displayed at the moot trial, he and his friend, fellow rookie Assistant District Attorney J. Kevin Mulroy, had a lot to learn and often got "the look."

Fitzpatrick remembers one time in particular, when Mulroy, who died last year, handed Cirando some paperwork.

"Kevin had written something along the lines of "the perp was cuffed and taken downtown,"' Fitzpatrick recalled. "John just stared at him with that look and said, "That's not how we write in the legal profession.' John's a great writer, and he insisted we learned how to write, with the appropriate legal tone, and also in a way that told a clear, concise story."

Cirando said he likes the research and writing aspect of his job. That preference helped shape his career as a top appellate lawyer.

He's had more than 1,500 appearances before the state Supreme Court Appellate Division's Fourth Department alone, which is the court that will hear Cirando's appeal of the Carousel Center mall expansion ruling. He's had hundreds more appearances before other appellate courts, and more than 60 appearances in front of the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, he said.

He has worked on cases that led to the first definitive statement of New York state criminal jurisdiction on an Indian reservation; the first recognition of battered child syndrome in New York; the first appellate consideration of the admissibility of hypnotically refreshed testimony in a criminal case; and the first judicial recognition in New York that brain death is the equivalent of legal death.

"He's incredibly knowledgeable and organized, and he gets on well with the judges," Hennessy said of Cirando. "A major part of the legal business is credibility with judges."

Cirando has built that credibility in a number of ways, including occasionally undermining his own cases in court.

"There are times he pointed out to the appellate court a problem with a conviction that the defense lawyers missed," Hennessy said. "That builds a lot of credibility. He makes arguments the judges know they can stand by."

Despite Cirando's legal reputation, he makes a lot of time for family, exercise and volunteer work. He talks to all three of his daughters regularly - two called his cell phone during a one-hour interview Thursday. He enjoys walking with his wife, which he does nearly every day, going to Carousel Center for strolls when the weather is bad, he said.

"I really enjoy the relationship I have with my daughters," he said.
And he has been very active with Vera House, doing legal work for the organization, which fights domestic and sexual violence, for free.

"John is a personal hero for me," said Randi Bregman, executive director of Vera House who awarded Cirando the Sister Mary Vera award last year.

Bregman said a lot of people who do pro bono work for nonprofits naturally put their paying business first. "But John makes us his top priority. His service has been unprecedented," she said.

Interesting Bregman, who Cirando volunteers for, and Fitzpatrick, who once worked for Cirando, have inverse views on Cirando.

Bregman described Cirando as having a quiet, gentle exterior that belies a hidden toughness. "He is a very strong man," she said.

Fitzpatrick had this take: "He has this cantankerous persona, but underneath it all he's a softy."

More on Cirando
Past jobs/posts: Chairman of the Fourth Department Judicial Screening Committee to which he was appointed by Gov. George Pataki in 1997. Served in the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office for 16 years, seven as chief assistant district attorney. A captain in the Army who served as a claims judge advocate.

Family: Wife, Carolyn. Three daughters: Lisa Marie Cirando, an attorney in New York City; Julie Lynn Piazza, a personal chef in Grosse Pointe, Mich.; and Jennifer Mary Zulak, an operations management consultant for the Florida Department of Health.

Family ties : Cirando is a second cousin of state Sen. John DeFrancisco, a critic of Carousel Center mall expansion project. Cirando said he has not talked with DeFrancisco, who was out of town traveling and could not be reached for comment.

Education: Bachelor of arts from St. Bonaventure University (1963). Juris doctor from the State University of New York at Buffalo (1966).

Civic: Has held various positions in the state and county Bar Association. A lector at St. John the Evangelist Church; an advisory board member of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America, CNY Chapter; board member, Loretto Health & Rehabilitation Center; a former president and current general counsel for Vera House.

Fun fact: On March 3, Cirando made a hole-in-one on the 138-yard third hole at Laurel Island Links, Kingsland, Ga.