Ethics opinion sought in solar farm dispute
The North Hempstead Town Board will hold a special hearing tonight to discuss adding solar panels at two old landfills. Credit: Steve Pfost
A trustee appointed to the LIPA board by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has written to a state ethics commission requesting an opinion on the actions of another board member who has opposed "secretive" aspects of a LIPA-contracted solar farm.
In a letter Wednesday to the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, Mark Fischl, a Cuomo appointee who chairs the LIPA board's governance committee, requested "guidance" on whether board member Marc Alessi "engaged in actual conflict or the appearance of conflict of interest" under the state public officers law based on comments Alessi made to Newsday.
Alessi, a former state assemblyman and Shoreham resident appointed to the LIPA board by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, has opposed a 60-acre solar farm planned for a Shoreham sod farm. Alessi and many other residents say that the location is wrong for the project and that they received short notice of its imminent construction. In Newsday stories, Alessi and residents have threatened legal action to block the project.
On Friday, David Grandeau, an attorney for Alessi, called Fischl's letter "laughable on its face" and asked the commission in a letter to disclose whether its staff or commissioners had discussed the Alessi matter with members of the governor's staff.
"I think when you boil it all down, he [Fischl] is just upset that Marc Alessi had the gall to actually speak to the media," Grandeau said. "Speaking to the media without receiving an OK from the second floor [Cuomo's office] is not allowed."
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi responded, "We have no comment on anything Grandeau has to say."
Grandeau's letter also alleges that Alessi was "threatened during an executive session he attended by LIPA counsel Bobbi O'Connor that there would be consequences for speaking publicly to the media" and a formal ethics complaint filed if he didn't retract his remarks.
A LIPA spokesman declined to comment.
In his letter, Fischl, who is president of Pinnacle Real Properties and past president of the American Platform Tennis Association, quotes the Newsday story in which Alessi said he was "considering legal action" against LIPA and Brookhaven Town over the project.
"I am unclear if through these actions Mr. Alessi has engaged in an appearance of a conflict of interest of his common law duties of loyalty to LIPA," the letter states.
While denying Alessi violated any law, Grandeau's letter said it's "unclear" from LIPA's letter whether Fischl is asking for advice on behalf of the board, the governance committee or himself. He also noted that Alessi is a member of the governance committee and wasn't aware of any official action giving Fischl authority to make the ethics commission request.
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
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