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December 16, 2006 |
Pataki Appoints New Resident,
Charlee Miller, to RIOC Board
Some Object as He Seeks Long-Term Impact on
State Government and Rewards Political Friends
by Erik Kriss in Albany
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Governor George Pataki’s appointment of Charlee Miller to the Roosevelt Island Operation Corporation Board of Directors is among 400 he has made in his final year in office.
But the nomination of Miller, who was confirmed by the State Senate this week to replace Deborah Beck, hasn’t generated the controversy that some of Pataki’s other appointments have.
They include high-paying positions on State boards and other entities with terms that will last well into the administration of Pataki’s successor, and perhaps beyond. Republican Pataki got help from the GOP-controlled State Senate, which has the power to confirm the Governor’s nominees.
The lame-duck Governor’s actions have drawn criticism from Democrats, who claim Pataki is trying to reward loyalists and political allies in a way that violates the spirit of a change of administration, and especially of the November 7 election.
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, won a landslide victory in the Governor’s race last month, a race Pataki decided in July 2005 he wouldn’t enter.
Spitzer echoed his fellow Democrats’ criticism recently when asked about Pataki’s appointments. "I think it would be somewhat contrary to the spirit of governance and contrary to good governance if anyone were to begin to put in place in agencies, authorities, significant decision-making bodies, people at this point whose terms would extend deeply into the term of the subsequent Governor, the one who has just been elected, the Governor who has just been elected on the premise of a new direction in governance," he said. "Wise policy would dictate against putting in place individuals in agencies where their term of office would extend deeply into my term."
The same day, Pataki disagreed, saying he would "continue to appoint people who I am proud of their commitment to the people of New York. I’ve always believed that people you put on authority boards don’t serve you, they serve the people of New York, and that’s what they will do."
More recently, though, Pataki bowed to specific requests from Spitzer, agreeing to refrain from making appointments to some of the most powerful policy positions in State government.
Those include a board seat each on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the utility-regulating Public Service Commission and the Thruway Authority, the chairmanships of the Public Employment Relations Board, which resolves contract disputes with State worker unions, and the State of New York Mortgage Agency, and seats on the Adirondack Park Agency, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the Urban Development Corp.
"Governor-elect Spitzer and his people let it be known what they considered key appointments, and both sides worked toward a constructive solution," said Pataki’s press secretary, Michael Marr.
But Marr also returned some fire. "Some of our biggest critics on appointments are the same Assembly majority members who have been talking for years about the virtue of the independence of authorities and boards," he said, arguing what those Democrats really want are Democrats in key posts.
Appointing Friends
The criticisms of Pataki began late last year.
Among those he has rewarded since then:
• Former State Assembly Minority Leader Charles Nesbitt of Albion, as $126,167-a-year president of the State’s Tax Appeals Tribunal, with a term extending to 2012 – which would be halfway through a second Spitzer term. Nesbitt received $114,000 per year as Assembly Minority Leader.
• Deputy Secretary to the Governor Caroline Ahl, as $90,800-a-year member of the State Civil Service Commission, with a term extending to 2011 – again, into a second Spitzer term.
• Ellen Paprocki, daughter of Pataki confidant John O’Mara, as $90,800-a-year member of the State Workers Compensation Board, through 2007.
• Jennifer Arena, formerly Jennifer Farina, a former spokeswoman for the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal – which oversees RIOC – to a $101,600-a-year spot on the State Parole Board with a term expiring in June, 2008.
• State Assemblymember Patricia Acampora, a former Suffolk County Republican chairwoman, as $127,000-a-year chair of the Public Service Commission. Spitzer could replace her as chairwoman, but she would remain a $109,000 commissioner to 2009.
• Acampora’s husband, Alan Croce, for a $101,600 seat on the Parole Board to June, 2009.
• Plattsburgh Mayor Daniel Stewart, a Republican, to a $101,600-a-year, four-year term on the State Commission of Correction.
• State Assemblymember Chris Ortloff, a Republican from Plattsburgh, to a $101,600-a-year slot on the State Parole Board until June of 2012.
• Daniel Hogan, Pataki’s General Services Commissioner, as a $120,000-a-year State Racing and Wagering Board member until 2012.
• Edward Cox, son-in-law of the late President Richard Nixon and at one time a 2006 candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, to the State University of New York Board of Trustees (a reappointment) until 2013.
History
The issue of eleventh-hour appointments is relatively uncharted water in recent State history. It’s been at least 52 years since a governor voluntarily stepped down and a candidate of the other party won the ensuing election.
In 1982, Gov. Hugh Carey decided not to seek a third term, but fellow Democrat Mario Cuomo succeeded him – and kept some of Carey’s key people in State government.
Pataki defeated Cuomo in 1994, and Carey was first elected governor in 1974 by defeating the incumbent that year, Republican Malcolm Wilson.
The last time an incumbent stepped aside and a member of the other party succeeded him was 1954, when Republican Governor Thomas Dewey retired and Democrat W. Averill Harriman won the job.