Can politics cause illness?
By Tim Kelly

RIVERHEAD - Although his own physician testified in workers' compensation hearings that former supervisor Joe Janoski smoked two packs of cigarettes a day, was overweight and had a history of hypertension, the administrative law judge who awarded Mr. Janoski a one-time cash settlement of $86,000 and lifetime tax-free payments of $400 a week saw other factors leading to the heart attack that hastened the end of his political career.

Chief among them? Mr. Janoski's ongoing political struggle with fellow Republican Town Board member Frank Creighton.

The job-related stress brought on by his responsibilities in dealing with the late December snowstorm in 1993 probably was, as Mr. Janoski's physician testified, "the straw that broke the camel's back" and led to his fourth and fifth heart attacks, Workers' Compensation Board administrative law judge Leo Kornfeld said in his decision in favor of the former supervisor's bid for compensation.

But a copy of the ruling obtained by The News-Review through a freedom of information law request shows that Mr. Kornfeld also endorsed Mr. Janoski's claim that the stress caused by months of political squabbling from within his own political party may have been one of the factors in causing his health to fail.

Earlier this week the town's insurance carrier filed an appeal seeking to overturn the award. Town officials admit, however, that such appeals rarely succeed.

Agreeing with critics of the award that the "ordinary wear and tear of political life" may not warrant the granting of such compensation, Mr. Kornfeld nevertheless declared there is "substantial medical evidence that the cumulative effect of the highly unusual political work stresses" placed on Mr. Janoski in the months leading up to his collapse "could have triggered this heart attack as well."

Janoski lays blame

While the law judge stopped short of pointing a finger directly at Mr. Creighton, the former supervisor didn't.

"Mr. Creighton owns a large piece of that heart attack," he said this week. "For the last six months [of his career] he tormented me. I have always felt that if it wasn't for Creighton, I would still be supervisor today."

Mr. Janoski also said the town's decision to appeal may have been made too late. The town had 30 days to object, he said, but filed on the 32nd day.

Mr. Creighton, who said he hasn't seen the decision, declined comment.

In his ruling, the law judge found that Mr. Janoski's stresses "derived from problems and rivalries with members of his own political party - one of whom had, at least as perceived by [Mr. Janoski], as his sole mission in life, a desire to drive the claimant out of office. Few things in life are more stressful than when your Œfriends' become your enemies.' "

Halfway through his six-page decision, and after finding that the former supervisor's medical condition warranted the award, Mr. Kornfeld added that he felt compelled to examine whether the former supervisor's "unusual political situation," could have led to the December 1993 heart attack even if the snowstorm hadn't taken place.

The dispute, in detail

He then recounts the well-documented political dispute between the two Republicans that included Mr. Janoski's successful primary challenge to Mr. Creighton's nomination for supervisor. The GOP selected the retired colonel after Mr. Janoski initially declined to seek reelection.

With the resignation of his assistant, Monique Gablenz, who left to take a private sector job, Mr. Janoski "felt under great political pressure and burden during the summer months," Mr. Kornfeld wrote. He added that Mr. Creighton testified that he spent more time in Town Hall that did the then-supervisor and he raised that issue during the primary campaign.

Mr. Creighton testified that the supervisor "was shirking his responsibilities and had delegated too much to Ms. Gablenz. The claimant, on the other hand, said that Mr. Creighton had nothing better to do with his time than hang around Town Hall and harass and spy on him. The animosity was animated, to say the least."

The ruling adds that although Mr. Janoski won re-election that November, "Š as he testified, his travails with Mr. Creighton, who remained on the Town Board, continued." The councilman still had the votes to block the supervisor's initiatives, Mr. Kornfeld wrote, including rehiring Ms. Gablenz.

"Being supervisor, which job the claimant testified he had come to love over the years, had now become an onerous chore," Mr. Kornfeld said.

The town's own medical specialist found that the work required in dealing with the snow played a role, however small, in the heart attack, according to the law judge.

"Again, absent the snowstorm, were the political work stresses that the claimant was subjected to for months prior to his infarction far enough beyond the ordinary wear and tear of life that they could well have caused the heart attack without a specific precipitating event?" Mr. Kornfeld asked in the decision. "Taken cumulatively, could they have constituted Œstraws' that broke the camel's back? I think so, but I don't have to answer that question."

The judge said that medical evidence shows Mr. Janoski, who resigned in January 1995, has a "permanent partial disability."

Supervisor Vinny Villella said the town decided to appeal after receiving hundreds of calls from residents saying the award isn't warranted. Town officials erred earlier this month in reporting that the town must pay the first $75,000 of the award. Should the town's appeal fail, insurance will cover the full amount, said Jack Hansen, the town's accountant.

Mr. Villella said the money isn't the reason for the appeal. "People stop me on the street, at every function I go to," he said. "It's the talk of the town and the outrage is out there. I went to get a haircut and I almost got butchered."

Mr. Janoski called the appeal "the result of an orchestrated effort by political operatives. Leave it alone, enough already. I'm gone, I'm never going to run for office again. I really would like to enjoy the peace I've discovered."