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Honest we are not crooks!!! It just looks that way!
Albany Money Flows to Clients of Firms Employing Legislators By THOMAS KAPLAN Published: June 13, 2011 ALBANY — Over the past five years, New York State has awarded more than $7.4 billion in contracts to clients of law firms that employ state legislators, according to a review of court filings and other records. The 954 contracts range from $1.7 billion for Caithness Energy, a client of Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, where the State Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, works part time, to $130 million for salt for state highways, awarded to a client of the firm that employs Senator Michael F. Nozzolio of Seneca County. The contracts are a fraction of the more than $200 billion awarded by the state during the period. But they represent a vast pool of potential conflicts that are at the heart of a debate over ethics in Albany, where the Senate and the Assembly on Monday approved a disclosure and oversight law in response to corruption scandals that have tarnished state government for years. That legislation, which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo brokered and has championed, will for the first time require elected officials with law practices to disclose the names of clients they represent in matters before the state. With limited exceptions, the bill will not require lawyer-lawmakers to disclose clients represented by others at their firms. But public records show that the most common form of potential conflict for legislators with law practices occurs in just that undisclosed category: when legislators have law partners who represent businesses with a stake in bills, contracting decisions or regulatory actions. About two-thirds of the 208 sitting lawmakers supplement their annual salaries of $79,500 with other jobs. More than three dozen of them work as lawyers, according to the New York Public Interest Research Group. In almost all cases, legislators who practice law said they did not personally represent any clients who have business before the state. They have generally declined to discuss other clients of their firms who have dealings with the state; the new ethics law will require them to disclose such clients’ names only if the legislators recruited them as clients. The bill will also establish a public registry of firms that represent clients before state agencies, and it will require legislators to disclose how much they earn from their outside work. The review, conducted by The New York Times, identified clients of law firms that employ legislators by comparing a database of state court cases — which offers a window into a portion of each law firm’s client list — to a database of state agency and public authority contracts approved by the comptroller’s office since 2006. Although the databases do not demonstrate what, if anything, lawmakers did for their firms’ clients, they do show that the lawmakers’ firms represent many state contractors, as well as businesses with a significant interest in state policy and nonprofits that solicit earmarks from legislators. For example, O’Connell Electric Company, which has been awarded dozens of state contracts worth more than $50 million, has been represented in recent years by Harris Beach, the firm that employs Mr. Nozzolio. O’Connell is based in Victor, N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region and part of Mr. Nozzolio’s Senate district. The company has donated thousands of dollars to Mr. Nozzolio’s campaigns in recent years. Its chief executive, Victor E. Salerno, said he had known Mr. Nozzolio for decades and called him “a great guy.” He recalled asking Mr. Nozzolio, years ago, to intervene with the State Police to help sort out a licensing problem with the company’s trucks, and Mr. Nozzolio took care of it. “If any questions ever come up,” Mr. Salerno said, “he knows where to get answers.” But Mr. Salerno said he considered his contact over the years to have been with Mr. Nozzolio the senator, not Mr. Nozzolio the lawyer. “We don’t deal with him through Harris Beach,” he said. Mr. Nozzolio, a Republican, declined to be interviewed for this article. In a statement, he said, “My role in the law firm is limited to management and attorney recruitment, and I do not represent any clients.” The Times’s review found a broad spectrum of law-firm clients that do business with the state. Many are contractors that maintain the infrastructure by resurfacing roadways, fixing signal gates at train crossings or repairing sewer mains at prisons. Almost all are the sort whose work, like hauling trash from the New York State Fair, is rarely discussed in political circles. Some lawmakers work for law firms that deal directly with the Legislature. State Senator Neil D. Breslin, an Albany County Democrat who is the deputy minority leader, is employed by a large firm, Hiscock & Barclay, that has its own lobbying arm. Mr. Breslin said the law firm’s lobbyists knew not to call on him. “I wouldn’t talk to them,” he said. The law firm that employs Mr. Skelos, Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, has an independently run lobbying division, Empire Government Strategies, which notes on its Web site that it has “solid relationships with elected officials in every region of New York.” The chairman of the lobbying operation, Arthur J. Kremer, a former assemblyman, said he had no contact on official business with Mr. Skelos, a Nassau County Republican. “I don’t step over the line because I don’t have to step over the line,” Mr. Kremer said. “I go to the sponsor of the bill. I go to people on the committee with the bill. I can be just as effective without ever having to go near the majority leader.” Mr. Skelos’s firm also represents clients with significant interests in state policy, like health care providers; a few years ago, he fought a measure those providers opposed, which would have allowed whistle-blowers to bring Medicaid fraud lawsuits on behalf of the government. The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, works at a large personal injury firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, that opposes tort reform. Mr. Silver has consistently taken that position as a legislator. “It’s a culture of special access,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York. “A partner will say to a client: ‘Well, we have X senator who is of counsel, why don’t we discuss this with him? Maybe he can make a suggestion.’ That’s the reason why someone like that is hired.” Several lawmakers have also steered money to nonprofits or community groups connected to their firms. Senator Stephen M. Saland, a Poughkeepsie Republican, directed a $30,000 earmark in 2006 to Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County, a client of the law firm where he works, Gellert & Klein. Assemblyman Matthew J. Titone works for the law firm Gabor & Marotta, which represents the Alzheimer’s Foundation of Staten Island — to which Mr. Titone, a Staten Island Democrat, has provided $8,000 in recent years. Both lawmakers said they did not know the nonprofits were clients of their firms. Mr. Nozzolio directed $350,000 to the Wayne County Industrial Development Agency in 2007, and $100,000 the next year to Tompkins County Area Development. Both are clients of Harris Beach. Since 2006, Senator Kemp Hannon, a Nassau County Republican, has directed $900,000 in earmarks to two dozen nonprofits that members of the law firm where he works, Farrell Fritz, support in some way, like providing pro bono representation or by serving as board members. “When you’re thinking of a large firm like ours, when you’re thinking of my having 200 or 300 member items a year and trying to do things to benefit each of the communities in my district, the fact there’s overlap at some point is not surprising,” Mr. Hannon said. “There’s bound to be it.” Mr. Hannon, the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, is also one of several lawmakers who have oversight over agencies that do business with their firms’ clients. Among the clients of Farrell Fritz are several hospitals that have state contracts and a keen interest in the policy decisions by the health committee. Mr. Hannon said he did not consider Farrell Fritz’s clients to pose a conflict with his work in Albany. “You simply put your public obligation first,” he said. “You stick to it. I’ve never had any problem arise. I’ve never had to worry about any conflict.” The managing partner of Farrell Fritz, Charles M. Strain, said he saw no problem either. “We like having Kemp,” he said, “because we can at least find out firsthand what is happening in Albany instead of reading it in Newsday.” |