The state Board of Elections has referred three complaints against B. Thomas Golisano’s political committee to the Albany County district attorney for criminal prosecution of possible election law violations.

In another development, a financial disclosure report filed earlier this week with the state Board of Elections shows that Responsible New York all but emptied its bank account last month, refunding Golisano $950,000 and leaving the committee with a balance of just $49,233.56.

Golisano started Responsible New York in July 2008 with a $5 million contribution, and the committee, managed in league with G. Steven Pigeon, spent $4.1 million last year attempting, with mixed results, to influence elections involving the State Legislature.

Most political committees must adhere to spending limits in support of candidates. But as an independent, unauthorized political committee — one of the few, perhaps only such entity in the state — Responsible New York is permitted to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaign activities. However, it is not permitted to coordinate its activities with the candidates those efforts are aimed at helping. A violation is considered a felony.

The campaigns of two candidates who ran in primaries last fall against opponents backed by Responsible New York filed complaints with the Board of Elections contending coordination took place.

Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, had faced an unsuccessful primary challenge from the Responsible New York-backed Barbra Kavanaugh, and Erie County Legislator Michele Iannello, wife of Erie County Elections Commissioner Dennis Ward, vied with Joe Mesi, who also was supported by Golisano’s political committee, for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat in the 61st District. Mesi won the primary but lost the general election to Republican Michael Ranzenhofer.

In addition to complaints from the Hoyt and Iannello camps, the Erie County Board of Elections filed a complaint with the state board.

The state board did not take formal action on the three complaints until Monday. There was a discussion at a board meeting in May that at least one of four election commissioners said involved a referral of the complaints to Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares.

But Republican commissioners offered a different recollection when the board met in June, shortly after Golisano and Pigeon helped to engineer the defection of two Democratic senators to the GOP side, contending no such referral took place. After a monthlong standoff, the Democrats regained power a week ago.

Albany insiders said the timing of the board’s 4-0 vote Wednesday to refer the case to Soares for criminal prosecution was no accident.

They said Election Board officials have been pursuing the case for two months. At first, before the June 8 coup, Republicans wanted to pursue the investigation of Golisano and Pigeon —two people who helped finance the Democratic takeover of the Senate from the GOP last fall.

But then came the coup, after which sources said Republicans started losing interest in the probe.

Then, last week, Sen. Pedro Espada, the Bronx dissident Democrat, bolted from his newfound GOP allies and rejoined the Democrats when they agreed to make him majority leader, allowing them to regain control of the Senate.

The move angered Republicans, but Espada also created many new enemies within his own party for the play he made during and after the coup.

The Buffalo News was unable to contact Golisano for his reaction to the board’s decision. But Pigeon regards the vote as an act of political retribution.

“We challenged the status quo, and they’ve struck back,” he said. “I’m not surprised.”

Pigeon reiterated his longtime stance that Responsible New York has acted within the law.

“There is no evidence of coordination from the time we formed Responsible New York,” he said.

News that Responsible New York issued a $950,000 refund to Golisano is bound to raise questions about Golisano’s intentions, but Pigeon said it should not be read as a sign he is withdrawing from politics.

“There’s zero retreat,” he said. Rather, Responsible New York returned the money so Golisano can make better use of it, Pigeon said. Someone with Golisano’s wealth, he said, “has better use for money than sitting in a campaign account. When he’s needed to put money into a cause, he’s done it.”

Pigeon last week said Golisano may resume his financial support of the Independence Party, which the Rochester businessman helped found in the 1990s.

Golisano called that prospect “speculation” but did not deny his intention to continue spending on election campaigns. Indeed, Golisano recently pledged to take on the status quo in the Assembly, including a possible challenge to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

While Golisano plots his next move, Pigeon has landed a high-paying job with the Senate as Espada’s chief counsel. While Senate officials have not disclosed Pigeon’s salary, a spokesman said it would be in line with that of other attorneys who serve the Senate leadership. A News search of payroll records shows that’s in the range of $130,000 to $140,000 a year.

Reporter Tom Precious of the News Albany Bureau contributed to this report.