Cuomo eyes 12 upstate attorneys in pension scandal

BY ROBERT E. KESSLER | robert.kessler@newsday.com

April 24, 2008

At least 12 present or former attorneys at an Albany law firm, including a current commissioner of the state Public Service Commission, are under investigation by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for improperly getting state pension credits from a single BOCES district upstate, according to sources familiar with the investigation and attorneys for some of those involved.

Several of the attorneys associated with the Albany law firm of Girvin & Ferlazzo already have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in pensions, the sources said. The investigation is also examining whether some attorneys were given pension credit for work done by other attorneys, the sources said.

The attorneys Cuomo is investigating were all reported as employees, instead of contract workers, of the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES, which includes three counties in a sparsely populated region northwest of Schenectady and Albany.

A spokesman for Cuomo, Matt Wing, would say Wednesday only that a number of subpoenas had been issued to current and former attorneys at the law firm. He would not say how many or to whom.

The PSC commissioner, Maureen Harris, who had been a lawyer at the firm, is a sister of former Gov. George Pataki's chief counsel, Mike Finnegan.

Harris' attorney, Mike Koenig, said Wednesday, "For only one year , commissioner Harris participated in a long-standing and accepted arrangement at her firm, and is cooperating with the attorney general and will take whatever steps are deemed necessary and appropriate."

Geoffrey Davis, the current superintendent of the BOCES district, said that he had worked with Harris and 10 of the other Girvin & Ferlazzo attorneys said to be under investigation. Davis said they each received credit as employees eligible for state pensions, not ineligible contract employees.

"In all candor, my BOCES was culpable and did report them to the state as full-time employees," Davis said Wednesday, adding it was a practice that had not been questioned until recently.

Davis said the practice dated to 1988, starting with a lawyer named Michael Ruberti.

Ruberti could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Bruce Kopf, another former attorney at the firm, who also is said to be under investigation, said yesterday that he was unaware he had received pension credits.

John Toy, another former lawyer at the firm who is said to be part of the investigation, declined to comment.