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Tobacco Company Reveals More Gifts to State Legislators
by Kyle Hughes and Jay Gallagher - Gannet News Service
ALBANY _ More details emerged Wednesday of tobacco giant Philip
Morris giving gifts and dinners to state lawmakers, including money
spent on Assembly members who hours earlier overwhelmingly rejected a
ban on such gifts.
The newly disclosed spending included giving Assemblyman Ronald
Tocci and his son $1,400 in tickets to Marlboro Grand Prix auto races.
The updated filing also showed scores of additional events _ with some
group meals costing thousands of dollars _ attended by legislators in
Albany and elsewhere when Philip Morris picked up the tab.
Tocci denied the gifts reported by Philip Morris cost anywhere near
$1,400. "I am absolutely bemused and confused how they're charging me
for something. I can't even begin to understand how it approaches that
dollar amount," he said.
Tocci said he was given only passes to hospitality tents at race
tracks in California and Florida and expressed disbelief that Philip
Morris valued them so highly.
Another lawmaker named in the filings, Sen. Stephen Saland,
R-Poughkeepsie, said the high cost of wine chosen by someone else may be why the cost of his dinner exceeded a $75 gift limit now in place for legislators.
"If, in fact, the amounts are in excess of the threshold, I can only
assume the selection by whoever was selecting the wines was choosing
very expensive wines," Saland said. He said he didn't have more than a
glass or two of wine.
The law firm representing Philip Morris had no immediate comment on
the filings, which were released after the New York Public Interest
Research Group filed a Freedom of Information request with the Lobbying
Commission.
The $65,000 in new spending disclosed in amended reports to the
state Lobbying Commission was revealed after the Assembly voted around 3 a.m. Wednesday on a lobbying reform plan that omitted a gift ban that
was in a similar bill passed by the state Senate last week. The
Assembly's bipartisan action was sharply attacked by reform groups
seeking tighter oversight of Albany's $55 million special-interest
lobbying industry.
Barbara Bartoletti of the League of Women Voters called the deal
passed by the Assembly early Wednesday with the support of Gov. George
Pataki "not acceptable" and vowed to mount a grassroots effort to force
the Legislature to enact a gift ban.
Members of the state Senate have said they will follow a voluntary
ban if a law isn't passed, but the Assembly has strongly opposed any ban on lobbyists giving gifts to legislators.
"If they don't think their lifestyle is good enough they can go to
the private sector and get a job," she said of legislators, who collect
$110 a day in unvouchered expense money on top of pay that averages more than $90,000 a year.
"The taxpayers give them money to spend when they are on public
business," Bartoletti added. "(Assembly members) consider it vitally
important that they don't pay for their dinner."
Reformers said the disclosures about Philip Morris are only the tip
of the iceberg since their represent just one corporation's effort to
influence the Legislature. At the time of the spending, Philip Morris
was trying to prevent new anti-smoking measures from advancing in the
Legislature.
Patricia Lynch, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,
D-Manhattan, said that the new disclosures don't change the Assembly's
position opposing a gift ban. She noted that the health-care bill passed by the Assembly shortly before the lobbying bill included a
55-cent-per-pack tax hike on cigarettes.
"The (lobbying reform) bill that was passed last night that
represents a bipartisan agreement is meaningful reform with criminal
sanctions, high penalties and random audits," Lynch said. "There is no
single action that can go further in addressing the problem, the
perception of the problem and making sure the Philip Morris incident
never occurs again."
The Assembly bill increases penalties for violating lobbying laws,
but would not require disclosure of lobbying of state agencies or the
gift ban, two measures included in a proposal passed by the Republican
controlled state Senate.
Wednesday, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sent a letter to the
Lobbying Commission asking for an immediate referral of the lobbying
case.
"Prosecution of apparent serious criminal violations by Philip
Morris and (lobbyist Sharon) Portnoy will be placed in jeopardy unless
the Lobbying Commission acts immediately," Spitzer wrote.
Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, said GOP
senators will adhere to a self-imposed ban even if a lobbying deal is
reached that allows legislators to continue to take gifts.
"My conference has voluntarily said they will honor that (ban) and
that's not going to change," Bruno said after a speech Wednesday
morning. "Whatever becomes law, our ban that we have self-imposed will
stay. I'm confident of that."
The numbers that came out Wednesday were contained in an amended
report first filed on Nov. 12 as part of a settlement with the state
Lobbying Commission. That filing showed Philip Morris spent more than
$500,000 on dinners, gifts and lobbying the Senate and Assembly between
1996 and 1999.
That was more than double the total they disclosed before the gifts
were revealed in documents that were part of the national tobacco
litigation settlement with the states.
Philip Morris was fined $75,000, and Portnoy was fined $15,000 and
banned from lobbying the Legislature for three years.
Wednesday, Lobbying Commission director David Grandeau said the case
was still under investigation and Spitzer was wrong about the chances
that the statute of limitations will run out on the filings.
He said the commission had Philip Morris resubmit all their old
filings in September.
"That starts the clock running again... Our work has gotten more
counts included potentially," he said. "We've made that clear to the
attorney general."
The new dinners revealed Wednesday include these:
Saland said his share of the meals did not exceed a $75 limit that
now applies to legislators.
"My vote is certainly not for sale nor has it ever been for sale,"
Saland added.
Tocci said he regularly attends auto races around the country,
paying his own way. He said all he received from Philip Morris were
passes to a hospitality tent on a single day.
"I was not at that race track until Sunday, and I can't fathom how
the tickets could cost that much money," Tocci said. "I think they're
inaccurate.''
He said Philip Morris officials "invited me to say hello and wish
them good luck. Philip Morris is headquartered in my district."
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Archive of Print Stories on S4R
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Students Put Pressure on Legislators by Winnie Hu
Teen People
NY Daily News
NY Daily News
Albany Times Union
NY Newsday
The Troy Record
GANNET NEWS SERVICE
Albany Times Union
The Legislative Gazette
NY Times Story
The Daily Gazette of Schenectady
Rochester Chronicle
Albany Times Union
Other Articles On Corruption
NY Observer
Troy Record
Hon. Sheldon Silver
Sen. Joe Bruno
Sen. Bruno’s Flawed Gift Ban Bill Loopholes |
