The New York Times-20080128-Former Assemblyman Spreads the Largess As a Lobbyist

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Former Assemblyman Spreads the Largess As a Lobbyist

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Paul A. Tokasz, a former Assembly majority leader, has put his campaign war chest to work since leaving the Legislature to become a lobbyist.

Mr. Tokasz, a Democrat from Buffalo who left the Assembly's No. 2 post in 2006, has donated more than $57,000 from his campaign account, Friends of Paul Tokasz, to government officials -- most of whom his firm has been lobbying.

While the practice is not illegal or unique, it has raised questions about weaknesses in state and federal campaign finance laws. Last year, The New York Times reported on a similar strategy employed by Robert G. Torricelli, a former United States senator from New Jersey who became a lobbyist.

Whatever the rules and regulations are, and I used to be the chairman of the election law committee, I clearly follow those rules, Mr. Tokasz, now a partner with Patricia Lynch Associates, said in an interview.

His donations include more than $8,000 to Gov. Eliot Spitzer, $2,500 to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and $10,000 to the central account maintained by Democrats in the Assembly. There have also been what appear to be token donations across party lines, including $349 to Senator Dale M. Volker and $150 to Senator Mary Lou Rath, both Republicans from upstate New York.

Mr. Tokasz said he did not personally lobby the governor or lawmakers on specific issues, but he did have contact with them. A campaign finance filing this month includes a little more than $2,000 in reimbursement for lodging, travel and other costs from his attendance at a party for the governor in New York City in December.

Mr. Tokasz said that he did lobby officials in executive branch agencies and that his colleagues at Patricia Lynch Associates, one of Albany's largest lobbying firms, lobbied the governor and the Legislature. Mr. Tokasz's clients include the City of Buffalo and the Catholic Health System in western New York.

Referring to campaign finance laws, Barbara Bartoletti, the legislative director of the League of Women Voters of New York State, said, There are so few things in New York State that are illegal, and that's exactly the problem.

Can't you just see the interoffice memo? 'Welcome Paul Tokasz,' she said, adding, 'By the way, he has X number of dollars to contribute.'

Asked if he had considered returning the contributions to his campaign account, Mr. Tokasz said: There wasn't a regulation that I do it; there wasn't a statute. And although I don't intend to run for any office at this time, it still affords me the option to do it.

Mr. Tokasz's largess is likely to continue. At the end of the latest filing period, Jan. 11, Friends of Paul Tokasz and another political action committee controlled by Mr. Tokasz had a total balance of $300,000.

An Apology at Last?

For the second straight year, the Assembly has passed a bill that would make New York one of the few states to formally apologize for slavery, which was legal here until 1827. The bill stalled in the Senate last year, but Assemblyman Keith L. T. Wright, a Democrat from Harlem and the bill's sponsor, said he had been assured by the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, that this time it would be passed in the Senate.

Joe is old school, Mr. Wright said. If he says he's going to do something, he does it.

Scott Reif, a spokesman for Mr. Bruno, would not confirm Mr. Bruno's support, saying that it's under review. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Volker, a Republican from the Buffalo area.

We have a chance to become the first Northern state in the union to apologize for this abhorrent institution, Mr. Wright, left, said in a speech on the Assembly floor on Wednesday. (Actually, New Jersey has already done it, formally apologizing for slavery earlier this month.)

New York was the biggest importer of slavery in the United States of America except for South Carolina, Mr. Wright said. It existed for 201 years, and in the year 2008, it's time to say I'm sorry. TRYMAINE LEE

All Abuzz About a Raise

Would the Senate support a pay raise in an election year? Last week, Assembly Democrats were buzzing after Speaker Sheldon Silver told them he had been assured the governor would soon send over a bill that would grant lawmakers their first raise in nearly a decade. Because Democrats have more than a 2-to-1 edge in the Assembly, they have few political concerns about voting for raises for themselves.

In the Senate, though, Republicans hold a two-seat majority. Nonetheless, Mr. Bruno, the majority leader, did not rule out anything.

I'm just going to wait and see what happens, and if the governor sends a bill up, then we'll make our judgments, he said in an interview on WCBI-AM (1300) in Albany. Right now, it's not on our agenda. I have absolutely no plans to put that on the floor. But I don't have a bill, so we don't have to make that judgment.

Taking All the Credit

The governor is certainly warming up to the Nassau County executive, Thomas R. Suozzi, whom he recently appointed to head a commission that will examine how best to impose a ceiling on property tax increases. At a news conference last week, the two former rivals, who sparred in the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary, exchanged a series of one-liners.

After Mr. Suozzi, above, noted that he had worked on the property tax issue for many, many years, Mr. Spitzer interjected that Suozzi's ideas had garnered a fair bit of positive criticism.

Is that an oxymoron? Mr. Spitzer wondered aloud. Positive. Criticism. Criticism can be neutral, positive or negative and -- --

Most of it was from you, Mr. Suozzi shot back.

Asked who would get the credit if the commission's work led to lower property taxes, Mr. Spitzer said: There's no question. I'll take the credit.

Between laughs, Mr. Suozzi agreed. If we succeed, he takes the credit, he said. If it fails, it's my fault. TRYMAINE LEE

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