FAT FEES FOR POLS
Big checks, little legal work
STATE LAWMAKERS are earning big money from law firms — and some of them aren’t doing much lawyering.
Financial disclosure statements made public this month show some legislators earned up to six-figure incomes from law firms without representing a client or setting foot inside a courtroom.
“I work in an executive capacity with the firm’s management committee to develop and advance the firm’s strategic goals,” state Sen. Michael Nozzolio (RSeneca County) wrote on his annual statement. He earned up to $250,000 from the firm Harris Beach.
“I advise and counsel the firm and its lawyers on a range of matters including administrative and organization aspects of the firm,” Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Nassau County) wrote, disclosing how he earned up to $100,000 from the Uniondale firm Farrel Fritz.
Government reform advocates say the statements demonstrate that there are still gaping loopholes in how New York’s lawmakers disclose their outside income.
“The public has very little information on what work they do to get the big bucks, and the public deserves to know more,” complained Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Outside income of lawmakers, a thorny issue at the Capitol for years, was put under a new spotlight after the January arrest of then-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), who was accused of pocketing $4 million in bribes and kickbacks that were masked as legal fees.
At least 17 state lawmakers earned $100,000 or more in outside income in 2014, much of it coming from legal work, according to lawmakers’ latest financial statements.
Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau County), who was forced to step down after his May arrest on corruption charges, provided “no direct services” to clients but earned between $150,000 and $250,000 from the firm Ruskin Moscou Faltischek in Uniondale.
Silver, who also pleaded not guilty, refused to disclose any information about his outside income, citing the “pending proceedings in federal court.” A year ago, he disclosed earning up to $750,000 in legal fees.
The Legislature’s top-earning lawyer was first-year Buffalo Sen. Mark Panepinto, a Democrat, who raked in more than $1 million in 2014 as a partner in a law firm that specializes in personal injury cases. “I am involved in all my aspects of my clients’ cases, including regular calls and meetings,” Panepinto wrote on his disclosure form.