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City Auditor Urged Close Look at Property Tax Funds in '04
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"The dilemma here in management is, as you go up, it's like you're traveling in a plane and look outside and things look so beautiful," he said. "Only when you go down, then you realize that, 'My God, there are problems here.' This was so down in the valley that you did not feel it, could not see it. But those that are down there have to check these things out. That's why they are there and I am here."
Yet Gandhi's hiring record for tax office directors has been troubled. Herbert J. Huff, who took the job in 2000, resigned two years later after a female staff member accused him and his wife of leaving a threatening message on her answering machine. Huff's successor, Phil Brand, lasted about a year before departing for the private sector. He was replaced in early 2004 by Daniel L. Black, who took a leave of absence after his father died and then resigned in 2005.
Gandhi turned to Hobbs Newman that year. She was a tax collector in New York in 1997 when Williams, then the chief financial officer, hired her. Gandhi, who was director of the tax office, put Hobbs Newman in charge of customer service.
When Williams became mayor in 1999, Hobbs Newman became his Department of Motor Vehicles director. She initially won raves for improving customer service, but she made missteps. During her tenure, a new computer system crashed, residents received the wrong car registration stickers and the department acknowledged overcollecting $800,000 in ticket fines.
At the start of his second term, Williams moved Hobbs Newman to the role of secretary of the District. Four former high-ranking Williams aides, who requested anonymity because they now work for private companies, said they were surprised by the new appointment because of her DMV performance.
"I was cautioned about that," Gandhi said of the criticism of Hobbs Newman. "I was willing to take her because I had worked with her. I had confidence in her."
In two e-mails, Hobbs Newman defended her record, adding that her anonymous critics are hiding "under the cover of darkness."
"I am proud of my accomplishments," she wrote, noting that during her tenure the office generated $53 million in additional revenue by revamping collection procedures and reducing customer waiting times.
Staff writer Clarence Williams contributed to this report.
