New York Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

CITYWIDE
CAMPAIGN FINANCE BOARD CHIEF OBJECTS TO MAYOR’S PROPOSAL The head of the city’s Campaign Finance Board came out yesterday against Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign finance reform proposal, which would ban individuals who do business with the city from making campaign donations.
Frederick Schwarz Jr., who was appointed by Mr. Bloomberg, testified at a City Council hearing that the ban should apply to all candidates, not just to those who participate in the city’s public campaign finance program. Mr. Bloomberg, who spent roughly $74 million on his 2001 election, has, in the past, blasted the so-called pay-to-play system, where lobbyists donate to candidates and in turn get their agendas heard.
Mr. Bloomberg vetoed a package of council-approved campaign-finance reform bills last week, which among other things would have increased the city’s matching-fund rate. The mayor’s new proposal would apply to anyone with a city contract worth more than $100,000. It would limit contributions from those individuals to $250 and would eliminate matching-fund eligibility for those donations.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
CITY TO SUE UTILITY OVER COSTS FROM WATER DAMAGE The city’s corporation counsel, Michael Cardozo, decided yesterday to take legal action against Con Ed to recover some $300,000 in cleanup costs associated with last year’s massive Washington Heights water main break.
The city comptroller, William Thompson Jr., had been trying to get the utility to absorb the cleanup costs but to no avail. Mr. Thompson had suggested the city file suit against the company back in September, and yesterday the city did just that.
“My review of this matter determined that Con Edison was responsible for the water main break that caused major disruption and inconvenience to residents and businesses, and caused the City to incur steep costs to clean up and remedy the problem,” Mr. Thompson said in a statement. “Con Edison should step up and ensure that the City is properly compensated.”
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
SUPERINTENDENT OF STATUE OF LIBERTY NAMED Cynthia Garrett, the acting superintendent of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, was permanently named to the post yesterday.
“Cynthia Garrett has an excellent record of success in reopening the Statue of Liberty and will ensure a bright future for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island,” said the northeast regional director of the National Park Service, Marie Rust.
The Statue of Liberty was closed following the 2001 terrorist attacks; its pedestal was reopened to the public earlier this year.
Ms. Garrett has implemented a program for increasing security in the park, and is overseeing a revision of the master plan that will guide management of the monument over the next 15 to 20 years, the park service said in a release. She will also undertake a major project to stabilize and rehabilitate the 30 buildings on Ellis Island that have been vacant and deteriorating since 1954, it said.
– Associated Press
MANHATTAN
SOTHEBY’S TO AUCTION KENNEDY FURNITURE, ARTWORK Furniture, artwork, and knickknacks from the homes of President Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis will be auctioned in February, Sotheby’s announced yesterday.
The auction, to be held February 15-17, is more modest than a 1996 Kennedy auction at Sotheby’s that brought in $34.5 million, including $2.5 million for an engagement ring from Aristotle Onassis. The latest auction features some 600 lots including art, books, and photographs. Many items have presale estimates as low as $200, though the Kennedy mystique could drive prices up.
“We never know,” said a senior vice president at Sotheby’s, Chapin Carson. “When we estimate things, we don’t add in any extra value for the provenance. That’s sort of for the market and the buyers to decide.”
The property was consigned by Caroline Kennedy, who in an introduction to the catalog says she has given everything of historical significance to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and kept the things that mean the most to her and her children. She says a portion of the auction proceeds will go to the library foundation and other charities.
– Associated Press
UPPER EAST SIDE FIRE LEAVES HUSBAND AND WIFE DEAD An early morning fire in a Manhattan high-rise left a husband and wife dead yesterday.
The fire started on the 19th floor of the 42-story apartment building at 60 East End Ave. at 83rd Street on the Upper East Side, said a Fire Department spokesman, Kevin Nolan. The two-alarm blaze was reported at 4:45 a.m. and brought out 25 units and 106 firefighters. The cause of the fire was unclear, but investigators said they believe it was an accident. Both of the victims – identified as Lloyd Schiller, 86, and his 66-year-old wife, Angela – were taken to New York Weill-Cornell Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead. Firefighters bought the fire under control at about 5:30 a.m.
– Associated Press
STATEWIDE
STATE WEB SITE TO OFFER INFORMATION ON LAWYERS Starting today, New Yorkers will have access to more facts about lawyers through the state court system’s Web site, including information about whether they have been suspended or disbarred. The Unified Court System said the Web site (www.nycourts.gov) will also detail the year lawyers were admitted to the bar in New York and the law school they attended. Currently, the “attorney registration” section of the court system’s Web site allows visitors to type in an attorney’s name, but only gives the lawyer’s registration number, the name of the law firm they practice in, its address, and telephone number. It also includes a disclaimer that being listed “does not imply that the attorney is in good standing.”
David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the court system, said the additional information is being offered as a service to legal consumers. He also said there have been complaints that people were preying on communities with a high percentage of recent immigrant arrivals by portraying themselves as lawyers.
“We’ve found that there are some problems with people saying they are lawyers and not being lawyers,” Mr. Bookstaver said yesterday. “Having the ability to check on that will hopefully address some of those very serious problems.”
– Associated Press
UPSTATE
DRUG BUST RESULTS IN CHARGES AGAINST 61 A drug sweep targeting four upstate cocaine rings has resulted in the arrests of 61 people, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said. In raids conducted yesterday by state and local police agencies, four pounds of cocaine worth roughly $180,000, eight guns, $47,000 in cash, and eight vehicles were seized, Mr. Spitzer said. In one Monroe County ring, 22 defendants were charged with obtaining cocaine for distribution in the Rochester and Syracuse areas. Seven people from a second ring in Onondaga County were charged with distributing cocaine in Syracuse. Eleven defendants were arrested in a third ring operating in Jefferson County, while 21 people were charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine in Cortland and Tompkins counties.
– Associated Press
POLICE BLOTTER
NARCOTICS SQUAD ARRESTS MAN SUSPECTED OF RAPE Members of the Brooklyn North Narcotics Squad raided a home in the Brownsville section yesterday, seizing drugs and a loaded firearm and arresting a suspect in the 2002 rape and sodomy of two young girls. When police executed the search warrant on 41 Rochester Ave., they found a loaded .22-caliber handgun, two pounds of marijuana, and a quantity of crack cocaine. They arrested the resident, Devon Gallimore, 42, and upon further investigation learned that he was wanted for the rape and sodomy of a 6-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl, the two daughters of his estranged girlfriend.
– Special to the Sun
MAN CONVICTED OF PLOT TO KILL ESTRANGED WIFE AND HER BOYFRIEND A Queens man was convicted yesterday of plotting to kill his estranged wife and her boyfriend as he awaited trial on Rikers Island for a vicious assault on her only a month earlier. The defendant, whom the district attorney’s office identified as George Gouvatsos, 52, of Whitestone, Queens, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in the first and second degrees and solicitation to commit murder in the first and second degrees. He faces a sentence of up to 50 years in prison at his hearing on December 17. According to the DA’s office, Gouvatsos met with an undercover detective and another person whom the DA’s office did not identify while in jail, and told them he would pay $5,000 if they would kill his wife and her boyfriend. He also provided the detective with his wife’s photograph, her physical description, schedule, social security number, and a map of their home.
Last year, Gouvatsos was convicted of the earlier assault on his wife and sentenced to 15 years in prison. According to the DA’s office, Gouvatsos assaulted his wife, a 46-year-old hospital nurse, with a hammer. She suffered a severe skull injury.
– Special to the Sun