Using anonymous tips and sources, The New York Post had planned an expose on how New York State spokesperson David Bookstaver was pocketing a $166,000 salary while barely showing up to work. But anonymous sources be damned. The Post got everything it needed when Bookstaver, right after lying to a reporter about his work schedule, accidentally butt-dialed the reporter and admitted to everything.
Bookstaver unwittingly left a four-minute voicemail while talking to at least two other people and revealed he’s “not doing anything” at his job:
“I spoke to [the reporter] on the record for awhile. I said, ‘I’m in a much less visible position; that doesn’t mean I’m not doing anything,’ ” Bookstaver said.
“But, frankly, look, the bottom line: The story’s true. I’m not doing anything. I barely show up to work and I’ve been caught.”
The remark promoted laughter, after which Bookstaver explained that he didn’t need to show up “because they took away all my responsibilities and left my pay.”
At one point, he lamented having bragged about his ability to play hooky. “They left me alone and look, I have a big mouth. I told people I’m not doing much. I do take a lot of time off,” he said.
“I kind of asked for it. You know, if you have a big mouth, you know it catches up with you.”
This is what our tax dollars go toward.
Whenever someone in public relations gets caught lying to the press, you know they’re going to get fired. That’s what happened to Bookstaver, who was planning to retire Oct. 1 anyway. While the ordeal is humiliating, Bookstaver shrugged off the possibility that a scandal could affect his pension:
Bookstaver, who’s planning to retire Oct. 1, also raised the possibility he could get fired “because of a story in The Post,” but said it “would probably affect my pension check by $6 a month.”
“Look, the bottom line is, I’ll suffer through a terribly embarrassing story and then go get my f–king pension and retire,” he said.
Now that Bookstaver no longer needs to pretend he goes to work, he’s been hanging out at his second home in upstate New York. When reporters showed up there on Thursday, he fled into the woods to avoid answering their questions:
Confronted by two Post staffers near his upstate Warwick vacation home, Bookstaver, 58, jumped down a four-foot embankment and disappeared into a thicket rather than discuss the humiliating end to his 21-year career with OCA.
Taking a page out of former Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze’s book, he then threatened to have the reporters arrested for trespassing.
[New York Post | Photo: New York Times]
About Jesse Kramer
Jesse is a writer and editor for The Comeback. He has also worked for SI.com and runs The Catch and Shoot, a college basketball website based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow Jesse on Twitter @Jesse_Kramer.