Communication chief lost job after admitting he "barely" works

New York state court system's longtime communications chief was fired after inadvertently telling a reporter that he "barely" went to work at his $166,000-a-year job.

David Bookstaver's firing came a day after the New York Post reported he unwittingly dialed a reporter's voicemail, which captured him conversing with someone else - and acknowledging that he was sloughing off at the office.

"I'm not doing anything. I barely show up to work," Bookstaver said in a part of the recording the newspaper posted online.

The 58-year-old had been planning to retire in October from his communications director job. Instead, he was terminated, chief court spokesman Lucian Chalfen said.

"While there are occasional abuses of office, we take those abuses extremely seriously, and whenever we learn about them, we will always act to hold the offenders accountable," Chalfen said. He said it was too early to determine whether any disciplinary action could follow.

Bookstaver had been with the courts since 1996, after working as a spokesman for New York City's emergency medical service. Earlier, he was a freelance photographer who did work for The Associated Press in the 1980s.

His court-system job ranged from explaining metal-detector policy to helping manage media swarms around high-profile cases and fielding questions and complaints about access to courtrooms and records. Priding himself on responding to reporters' inquiries, he sometimes took calls while out hunting on days off.

But his portfolio shrank after Chalfen became public information director in February 2016, as Chief Judge Janet DiFiore began her tenure and brought him with her.

Bookstaver then told the paper that "they took away all my responsibilities and left my pay." His big mouth cost him his job.