Dollars that make no energy sense
The State Power Authority calls the $1 million it doles out each year to everyone from Little Leagues to festival organizers to the Elks as "community support contributions."
A more accurate description might be "pork barrel," a Buffalo News investigation has found.
How else to explain former Gov. George E. Pataki's home town getting close to $200,000 to, among other things, stage the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.Or more than the quarter-million dollars, plus free electricity to run fountains, given to While Plains, home of the authority's headquarters just north of New York City.
Or the nearly $400,000 given to the state authority that promotes development in Lake Placid, whose use of the money includes an annual junket for politicians, lobbyists and their families.
Paul D. Tonko, longtime chairman of Assembly Energy Committee, said the program involves "giving gifts that have nothing to do with an energy agenda."
Authority officials don't dispute that; they said the program is aimed at being a good corporate citizen.
The authority earmarks contributions for a variety of reasons, including community improvements, local government assistance, economic development, public safety and education. The program operated for years with no objective criteria, no formal application and no review process.
The authority has "tightened up our policy dramatically from what it was before," said Vincent C. Vesce, executive vice president for corporate services and administration.
But the money has kept flowing.
A News analysis of authority contributions to 811 entities that received money from 1999 to 2005 showed the program has many of the hallmarks of pork barrel spending.
Close to half the recipients received less than $1,000 in total over the seven years, ranging from the Massena Elks, which received $50, to the Utica Police Benevolent Association ($575), to Lewiston-Porter High School and two affiliated sports organizations ($580).
Ten other entities received over $100,000, led by the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates facilities used in the Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympics. The Olympic authority received $366,045 since 2000. Much of it went toward offsetting costs of sporting events, such as World Cup bobsled championships.
One-third -- $122,500 -- was spent on the Winter Olympic Congressional Challenge, a sort of mock Olympics for congressmen, their relatives and staff, lobbyists and authority executives.
The authority gave sizable community support contributions to regions that do not host any of the authority's generating plants. The authority, headquarters in White Plans -- 25 miles north of Manhattan, and the seat of Westchester County -- made at least $446,000 in community service contributions to governments and organizations in Westchester County, including at least $299,000 in 2004 and 2005.
The authority has been especially generous to city government in White Plains, donating $261,000 -- far more than what it has given local governments in Western New York.
At least a dozen organizations in Pataki's hometown of Peekskill received more than $171,000 from the Power Authority. The lion's share went to the group that stages summer festivals. Other recipients include the sponsors of the St. Patrick's Day Parade and the local Rotary Club and Police Benevolent Association.
Two organizations from Niagara County made the Top 10 list, the Greater Lewiston Business and Professional Association ($174,990) and Lewiston Public Library ($100,000).
Niagara and Erie counties appear to have received more than any other upstate region in New York, about $935,000 of $5.6 million.
That's due in part to a recent spike in contributions. The authority more than doubled its contributions to Western New York interests in 2005 when it was negotiating with assorted governments in an effort to secure support for its federal application for a 50-year extension of its license to operate the Lewiston plant.
The authority gave funds to 35 organizations -- 13 of which had not received any money in the preceeding six years. Others received eye-popping increases.
In all, the authority doled out at least $264,000 -- compared with an average of about $112,000 the previous six years.
Several entities in a position to influence the course of negotiations with the Power Authority received some of the largest contributions. The Buffalo Niagara Partnership, the region's leading business organization, saw its authority contribution jump from $5,000 in 2004 to $50,378 the following year.
The authority gave an unexpected $40,000 to Erie County -- at the height of its fiscal crisis -- to keep afloat the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission. Both County Executive Joel Giambra and authority officials succeeded in keeping the donation anonymousat the time. All content herein is © 2008 The Buffalo News and may not be republished without permission.
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