Soares returns $23K bonus
District attorney decides to keep longevity pay despite dispute
ALBANY — Albany County District Attorney David Soares has paid back the $23,000 in bonus funds he gave himself using state grant money, but said he’d hold on to about $20,000 in longevity payments that were also called into question by a report commissioned by county officials.
County Comptroller Sue Rizzo confirmed Friday she received two checks — one for $16,000, the other for $7,951.32 — covering the grant funds Soares had received as bonus payments in 2023. The checks as well as a letter from Soares dated April 4 had been delivered to the county attorney’s office, which handed them off to Rizzo.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference Saturday, Soares reiterated his belief the commissioned report was a political attack. He said he did not intend to return the longevity payments, which he said he has received for the better part of 25 years.
“If they want those dollars returned, then they need to go and collect them from every single elected official, including my predecessors,” he said.
The Jan. 26 report prepared by the law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King questioned the legality of the longevity payments. Previous district attorneys, along with the comptroller, county executive, county clerk and sheriff, also have received longevity payments, according to county officials.
Rizzo said it would be up to the County Legislature to either pass a local law to approve that change in Soares’ compensation or seek to claw back the payments, which date back almost two decades.
The Bond, Schoeneck & King report found Soares’ decision to include himself in the pool of non-unionized employees who had received 11 percent bonuses with state funds did not comport with the requirement that any change in his compensation must be approved by a local law voted on by county legislators. Soares has insisted that since the bonuses were onetime payments and not an increase to his base salary, he assumed no local law was needed.
Soares — the county’s highest-paid worker with a 2023 base salary of $202,800 — received $22,388 from a state Division of Criminal Justice Services Aid to Prosecution grant, which was meant to help his office attract and retain prosecutors. He took another $1,562 from a second grant that was originally supposed to help prosecutors and office staff handle discovery material but was repurposed to pay for computer equipment, bonuses and overtime in his office.
Rizzo sent letters at the end of January to the offices of the state comptroller and attorney general asking them to review the matter. The status of those requests
is unclear. Soares said Saturday the state comptroller contacted his office and indicated no interest in the matter. He said his office has not heard from the attorney general, but has provided requested information to DCJS.
On Feb. 12, Soares released a video statement on Facebook in which he said that while he felt it had been proper to take the money, he would return the bonuses to change the conversation back to a focus on his office’s work.
“I cannot be the distraction for the wonderful organization that I lead, and I cannot be the distraction from the conversations that are essential, that need to take place right now,” Soares said in the video statement, in which he was flanked by his wife and children in their living room.
The district attorney appeared before the County Legislature’s law and audit committees in late February, when he used the bulk of his presentation to repeat his contention that he was the victim of an electionseason campaign by his opponents in county government.
“Comptroller Rizzo’s actions were never about the money, or processes,” he told the legislators. “She cloaked herself in her fiduciary role to close her character assassination contract against me.”
Soares pointedly refused to apologize for his failure to let lawmakers know he would be taking a portion of the grant funds when they voted to allocate them last fall.
Soares said the location of Saturday’s news conference — an empty lot on Second Street — was to emphasize a lack of focus on the county’s crime and violence problem. He said it was around the corner from the November 2022 fatal shooting of Hacief Oliver, 26, in what prosecutors called a perpetual war between Albany gangs. On Thursday, Willie Green, 41, was convicted of murder for serving as the wheelman in the shooting.
“Not one member of the media had been there in court to watch the proceedings, not one member of the media reported on the closing (statements) or the conviction that returned several hours later,” Soares said.
The Times Union reported on Green’s trial proceedings in person when the trial started and followed up on the jury conviction Thursday. It has consistently covered many of the county’s major criminal cases prosecuted by the district attorney’s office.
The news of the bonuses and the pending investigations by the state attorney general’s office and the state comptroller’s office has bled political support from Soares’ reelection campaign, and prompted criminal defense attorney Lee Kindlon (who ran against Soares in 2012) to jump into the contest. Kindlon has already secured the endorsement of the state Working Families Party. On Saturday, in a statement criticizing Soares’ response, Kindlon said he is supported by “a coalition of elected officials, town committees and regular folks.”
“So, while David hopes that by paying the money back this will put the issue to rest, he knows that he’s woken a sleeping giant,” Kindlon said.
The Albany County Democratic Committee in a February meeting chose to take no action for the district attorney’s post. Multiple town committees said they would not endorse Soares’ reelection campaign.
Despite the lack of support, Soares was able to deliver the required petitions for a place on the primary ballot in June. In a Facebook post Thursday, Soares said his volunteers had collected nearly twice the required number of signatures, which he noted on Saturday.
“I anticipate a very healthy margin of victory in this primary,” he said. “Because people understand that what I’m talking about are the issues that they are concerned about.”