ALBANY - Spokesmen for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Shell Oil Co., the New York City mayor and a major Manhattan developer on Tuesday said Senate leader Joseph Bruno met with them on official state business on days when Bruno's use of a state helicopter is being challenged.
Bruno's use of state aircraft for three recent trips to Manhattan on days that political fundraisers were scheduled has caused a furor this week in Albany, where politics often mix with policy and ethics laws are notoriously weak.
The issue was first raised Sunday by the Times Union of Albany, which also reported that state records show Bruno used the aircraft on those days and a state police detail to drive him around Manhattan. Gov. Eliot Spitzer has ordered a state police threat assessment to see if Bruno was eligible for the detail; Bruno has said it is needed because of documented death threats over the years.
If the trips were purely for politics, Bruno could have run up against the state public officers' law that prohibits a public official from using his official position to gain unwarranted privileges for himself or others. A violation could result in a fine or removal from office. State penal law might also apply, the newspaper reported.
A state Ethics Commission opinion obtained Tuesday and dating to 1995 appears to authorize the use of state aircraft for trips even if they include political events and fundraising as long as there is some legitimate state meeting or other purpose. Former governors Mario Cuomo and George Pataki both used the Ethics Commission rationale for using state aircraft.
Corporate officials told The Associated Press they met with the senator on May 3, May 17 and May 24, providing the first details of the trips Bruno listed on a form requesting state aircraft as “legislative business meetings.” Bruno is expected to be questioned by the state Attorney General's Office and the Albany County District Attorney's Office about the trips.
“It was lunch,” said Bill Miller, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, about his meeting with Bruno on May 17. “We talked about taxes.” He said U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue also attended the meeting.
Miller said the meeting was at CV Star & Co. on Park Avenue, the address where state police records say Bruno was taken at 12:30 p.m. that day. That is also the company headed by insurance magnate Maurice Greenberg, a Republican donor who had conflicts with Spitzer when he was attorney general.
Another meeting that day involved oil company executives and Bruno, said a spokesman for one of the companies.
“It was a substantive meeting,” said Bruce Gyory, a lobbyist. He said he arranged a May 17 meeting between executives of TransCanada and Shell Oil Co. with Bruno. “It was on energy and the Broadwater issue.”
Broadwater Energy - a consortium of Shell Oil and TransCanada - is seeking federal permission to build a $700 million terminal in Long Island Sound. Some Long Islanders are lobbying to block the project.
On May 3, Bruno stated in the records, he was in “legislative business meetings” in New York City.
“I was there,” said lobbyist Patricia Lynch, the former top adviser to Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver until 2000. “I was with my clients from Tishman Speyer concerning legislation.”
Tishman Speyer, owner of New York's Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler building, is among Manhattan's biggest developers.
On the night of May 3, Bruno hosted the $1,000-per-person annual spring meeting of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan.
The next day, state police records show Bruno was driven to Aqueduct race track, where the New York Racing Association operates under the state's thoroughbred racing franchise. The franchise ends Dec. 31 and the governor and Legislature are considering how to continue racing.
The night of May 24, Bruno attended a fundraiser for himself, after being dropped off by state police at City Hall where he met with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “It was about the city's legislative agenda in Albany,” said Stu Loeser, a spokesman for Bloomberg, a Bruno ally and campaign contributor. “The meeting happened.”
Bruno has defended the trips, saying the fundraisers were at the end of a day of legislative business and use of a state helicopter allowed him to avoid an overnight stay in Manhattan which he said wouldn't be productive.
Most of those he met with, however, are also political donors, often to Republicans and Democrats in a common approach in Albany for people and companies doing or seeking to do business with the state. For example, Tishman Speyer contributed $85,000 to various candidates since 2000, including $25,000 last year to the Republicans state committee. And the billionaire mayor donated $750,000 to the state Republican committee and senators since October, according to state elections records.
Bruno, however, has refused to say who he met those days, but said he would cooperate with authorities. Bruno and his spokesman, John McArdle, insist that releasing who they met with would have a chilling effect on people providing information about the need for legislation or regulatory enforcement.
The issue was first raised Sunday by the Times Union of Albany, which also reported that state records show Bruno used the aircraft on those days and a state police detail to drive him around Manhattan. Gov. Eliot Spitzer has ordered a state police threat assessment to see if Bruno was eligible for the detail; Bruno has said it is needed because of documented death threats over the years.
If the trips were purely for politics, Bruno could have run up against the state public officers' law that prohibits a public official from using his official position to gain unwarranted privileges for himself or others. A violation could result in a fine or removal from office. State penal law might also apply, the newspaper reported.
A state Ethics Commission opinion obtained Tuesday and dating to 1995 appears to authorize the use of state aircraft for trips even if they include political events and fundraising as long as there is some legitimate state meeting or other purpose. Former governors Mario Cuomo and George Pataki both used the Ethics Commission rationale for using state aircraft.
Corporate officials told The Associated Press they met with the senator on May 3, May 17 and May 24, providing the first details of the trips Bruno listed on a form requesting state aircraft as “legislative business meetings.” Bruno is expected to be questioned by the state Attorney General's Office and the Albany County District Attorney's Office about the trips.
“It was lunch,” said Bill Miller, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, about his meeting with Bruno on May 17. “We talked about taxes.” He said U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue also attended the meeting.
Miller said the meeting was at CV Star & Co. on Park Avenue, the address where state police records say Bruno was taken at 12:30 p.m. that day. That is also the company headed by insurance magnate Maurice Greenberg, a Republican donor who had conflicts with Spitzer when he was attorney general.
Another meeting that day involved oil company executives and Bruno, said a spokesman for one of the companies.
“It was a substantive meeting,” said Bruce Gyory, a lobbyist. He said he arranged a May 17 meeting between executives of TransCanada and Shell Oil Co. with Bruno. “It was on energy and the Broadwater issue.”
Broadwater Energy - a consortium of Shell Oil and TransCanada - is seeking federal permission to build a $700 million terminal in Long Island Sound. Some Long Islanders are lobbying to block the project.
On May 3, Bruno stated in the records, he was in “legislative business meetings” in New York City.
“I was there,” said lobbyist Patricia Lynch, the former top adviser to Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver until 2000. “I was with my clients from Tishman Speyer concerning legislation.”
Tishman Speyer, owner of New York's Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler building, is among Manhattan's biggest developers.
On the night of May 3, Bruno hosted the $1,000-per-person annual spring meeting of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan.
The next day, state police records show Bruno was driven to Aqueduct race track, where the New York Racing Association operates under the state's thoroughbred racing franchise. The franchise ends Dec. 31 and the governor and Legislature are considering how to continue racing.
The night of May 24, Bruno attended a fundraiser for himself, after being dropped off by state police at City Hall where he met with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “It was about the city's legislative agenda in Albany,” said Stu Loeser, a spokesman for Bloomberg, a Bruno ally and campaign contributor. “The meeting happened.”
Bruno has defended the trips, saying the fundraisers were at the end of a day of legislative business and use of a state helicopter allowed him to avoid an overnight stay in Manhattan which he said wouldn't be productive.
Most of those he met with, however, are also political donors, often to Republicans and Democrats in a common approach in Albany for people and companies doing or seeking to do business with the state. For example, Tishman Speyer contributed $85,000 to various candidates since 2000, including $25,000 last year to the Republicans state committee. And the billionaire mayor donated $750,000 to the state Republican committee and senators since October, according to state elections records.
Bruno, however, has refused to say who he met those days, but said he would cooperate with authorities. Bruno and his spokesman, John McArdle, insist that releasing who they met with would have a chilling effect on people providing information about the need for legislation or regulatory enforcement.
The Citizens' Say
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