Assembly Democrats Name Pork-Barrel Projects

ALBANY— The state Assembly's Democratic majority made public yesterday its list of pork-barrel projects approved as part of this year's state budget.

The list, available on the state Assembly's Web site under "legislative initiatives,"outlines 2,675 projects costing almost $51 million. It does not include the names of the members sponsoring each project, a detail that has been sought by critics of such spending.

"There is a court case pending on that," said Eileen Larrabee, a spokeswoman for state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, when asked about why the names of Assembly members were not included with the other information.

In June, the Times Union newspaper of Albany sued Silver and state Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno seeking the release of the names of individual members sponsoring local pork-barrel projects that are seen as helpful to members seeking re-election.

At issue is a $200 million pot of money that is annually divided up by Mr. Silver, Mr. Bruno and Governor Pataki for their favored projects.