MTA internal affairs chief George Lake reportedly violated ethics rules by not reporting his internal affair with Leona Roots, an administrative associate in his department. All employees are required to report personal relationships in order to confirm that there is no conflict of interest, but Lake failed to report the relationship, and on disclosure forms he filed in 2007 and 2008 it says he is married to a woman with a different name. "He's a pretty high-level person and should have known better," one source told the Daily News. However, it's unclear how or if Lake and Roots hid the relationship, especially since the two live together.
Roots was hired in 2008 after the MTA's first selection turned the job down, and investigators say there isn't any evidence that Lake influenced her hiring. Lake had no comment for a reporter hanging around outside his building in Astoria. MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger's office says Lake violated the MTA's Code of Ethics [pdf], which Lake really should have known about considering the Internal Affairs bureau is in charge of handling corruption and ethics violations. Well, at least he's not investigating himself?
