"I think it's more than coincidental that we're a couple of weeks before the election and Poloncarz is throwing out half truths," he said.

When Giambra took office in 2000, he asked the County Legislature to pass a measure that would prevent his own appointees from cashing out huge sums in vacation and compensatory time when they left county service.

His resolution came on the heels of $268,000 in cash-outs by top-level staff of Giambra's predecessor, Dennis T. Gorski. Giambra's resolution was intended to end such practices by listing more than 50 appointed job titles that would be exempt from such payouts.

However, according to Poloncarz, four patronage appointees who were exempt under these rules still got this money when they left county service:

• Victor M. Getz, deputy commissioner for recreation and former senior executive assistant who worked as Giambra's driver and patronage czar, $2,172 in comp time.
• Gerald A. Mineo Jr., director of contract compliance for Social Services, $6,819 in vacation time. He was eventually rehired by the county as a Health Department contract specialist.
• Carla M. Ruffino, secretary to the deputy county executive, $76 in comp time.
• Marina P. Woolcock, senior executive assistant, $544 in comp time.

Poloncarz called the payouts "dishonest, illegal and improper" and wants that money refunded to the county. He said he has asked County Comptroller James M. Hartman to look into the matter.

Hartman, however, said late Monday afternoon that this was the first he has heard of it.

"I'm not aware of any specific requests from the Poloncarz campaign," he said.

Meanwhile, Greenan said Getz, Mineo and Ruffino earned their comp and vacation time payouts while working for the county in other non-exempt titles.

According to him, Getz was eligible for his cash-out while working for a short time as director of revenue recovery. Mineo was eligible for his additional pay while serving as assistant director of contract compliance and as a contract specialist. Ruffino was eligible for her cash-out while working part time as a secretarial assistant for the county.

Greenan also said Woolcock did not receive any money for her accumulated vacation or comp time and attributed the discrepancy to a coding error.