Democrats Retreat to Manhattan on Wall Street’s Dime

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The New York Sun

ALBANY – Assembly Democrats are using donations from Wall Street to finance a private, Democrats-only conference this week to discuss reform of the Legislature.


Assembly officials said all expenses for the three-day meeting at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Battery Park – including tickets to a Knicks game and Broadway shows – are being underwritten by the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, which is controlled by Speaker Sheldon Silver of Manhattan.


Records from the Board of Elections show that most donations to the account that pays for the conference come from the Securities Industry Association and firms such as Fidelity Investments, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and UBS Paine Webber.


The conference account has collected $120,000 since the annual events began four years ago.


The arrangement drew mixed reactions from government watchdogs. They said they are glad the legislators aren’t using tax dollars to pay for a meeting that mixes politics and pleasure with policy. On the other hand, they argue that politicians shouldn’t be allowed to use campaign donations for other purposes.


“The issue that raises the most concern is that the money comes with strings attached,” said the legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, Blair Horner. “That being said, if they come up with reforms that minimize the influence of special interest groups, I have nothing to complain about.”


“It’s good the public isn’t paying for a two-day swanky hotel retreat,” said the director of Common Cause/New York. “But somebody is. … We don’t think campaign funds should be used for anything and everything.”


“It’s a legitimate activity for DACC to sponsor,” said the chairman of the committee, Assemblyman Ronald Canestrari of Albany County. “It’s an occasion for us as members, in a setting away from the Capitol, to discuss issues that are important to all of us and to gather in a social setting. I think it’s productive. I think it’s useful and strengthens the institution.”


Although the main topic this year is how to make state government more open and democratic, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester County said there is nothing ironic about holding the discussion behind closed doors using donated money.


“This is a substantive working session,” Mr. Brodsky said. “People talk and listen. It’s exactly what the public would want from a deliberative body.”


The tradition began in 2000, the year that a group of Assembly Democrats made an unsuccessful attempt to oust Mr. Silver as speaker. After elections that fall, Mr. Silver hosted a retreat at Saratoga Springs to improve relations among his members. The next year’s event was held at Lower Manhattan, which is Mr. Silver’s district, as a gesture of support for the neighborhood after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.


People at the conference said much of the discussion has focused on various proposals for legislative reform, including constitutional amendments proposed by Mr. Brodsky, internal rules changes sponsored by Assemblymen Scott Stringer of Manhattan and Sam Hoyt of Buffalo, and a plan to end gerrymandering of legislative districts from Assemblyman Michael Gianaris of Queens.


Other topics at the meeting include the court order to increase funding for the New York City schools; the state’s fiscal condition; and prospects for overriding Governor Pataki’s vetoes of various spending programs, a budget reform bill, and a minimum wage hike.


There were to be appearances by Senators Clinton and Schumer and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, as well as outings to the tree-lighting at Rockefeller Center, a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden, and performances of “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Hairspray” on Broadway.


“It’s basically the speaker wining and dining everybody, keeping everybody on the same page,” said one Capitol insider, speaking on condition of anonymity.


As they arrived on Tuesday, the lawmakers were greeted by 20 tenant activists who handed them “care packages” of bottled water and snack bars and urged them to adopt the reforms proposed by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which would shift power from the central leadership to rank-and-file members.


A leader of the demonstration, Michael McKee of Tenants & Neighbors, said serious rules reform by the Assembly Democrats would put pressure on Senate Republicans to do the same thing. That, in turn, would make it harder for Senate leaders to bottle up tenant-friendly bills, Mr. McKee said.


A spokesman for the Brennan Center, Scott Schell, said he has no criticism of the venue the Assembly Democrats are using to debate reform.


“We’re realistic about the fact that Speaker Silver and his conference need to play a leading role in getting these reforms done,” Mr. Schell said. “We remain hopeful that’s exactly what’s happening this week in their retreat.”


Mr. Schell said 29 Democrats and 47 Republicans in the Assembly – a bare majority of the 150 members – have expressed support for the rules changes sponsored by Messrs. Stringer and Hoyt, which are based on Brennan Center recommendations.


Mr. Canestrari said he could not estimate how much this year’s conference would cost. The DACC conference account listed $46,000 in expenses after the 2002 event, although it was unclear whether all the spending was conference-related.


State law allows officials to spend campaign contributions on anything related to holding office or running for office, according to a spokesman for the Board of Elections, Lee Daghlian. “The only thing it would prohibit is if they actually took funds and put them in their pocket, or bought a gift for their wife, or something like that,” Mr. Daghlian said.


The New York Sun

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