Subject: [NEXTEL-1] NY- $1 billion contract to build a statewide wireless network for police

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 12:14:09 -0400

Shhh, D'Amato's got a lobbying gold mine
Senator pothole's pull paying off
big-time Albany & Washington

By WILLIAM SHERMAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Alfonse D'Amato is back on top but this time
around he won't talk about it.

In the six years since he lost his Senate seat to
Chuck Schumer, D'Amato has quietly built one
of the most powerful and lucrative
behind-the-scenes lobbying and consulting
firms in the state.

His clients include Verizon, Cablevision and
Madison Square Garden, gambling and tobacco
interests, transportation companies and
technology concerns annually doing tens of
billions of dollars of business in New York.

Once dubbed "Senator Pothole" for his savvy
delivery to constituents, D'Amato has a new
moniker.

"He's the King of Stealth," said Blair Horner, legislative director of
the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonpartisan watchdog
organization.
"You never see him up in Albany; he really doesn't have to come up here
because he's got a treasure-trove of political chits, he knows how the
system works and he probably has the hottest contacts of any Republican
lobbyist."
D'Amato, 66, whose four-person Manhattan-based firm, Park Strategies,
includes his son Christopher, declined to be interviewed.
But his influence in state government has been unquestioned ever since
he engineered Gov. Pataki's first victory, in 1994.
And he has maintained contact with powerbrokers in Washington, where he
spent 18 years in the Senate. He was a major fund-raiser for President
Bush in 2000.
Last year, for lobbying of state legislators, the governor's office and
other state agencies on legislation, D'Amato's firm earned about $1.73
million, according to reports filed with the state Lobbying Commission.
For lobbying in Congress on legislative matters, his firm was paid
$200,000, according to reports filed with the clerks of the House and
Senate.
But that's only the beginning.
D'Amato is paid millions of dollars more annually by clients vying for
state and federal contracts and with interests in other public matters,
according to lawmakers and lobbyists who requested anonymity.
Those fees are exempt from disclosure under state law. That includes the
money D'Amato earned two years ago for helping French rail car maker
Alstom win a $2.3 billion subway car deal with the MTA.
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) is among those lawmakers
pushing for lobbying reform.
"The law says if a lobbyist buys a legislator a $75 dinner, it has to be
reported, but if the lobbyist gets paid $10 million to steer a contract,
the law does not require any reporting," he said.
In some instances, all D'Amato need do is pick up the phone to get the
job done.  In one brief legendary call, D'Amato was paid $500,000 by a
real estate developer to persuade the MTA to lease the developer's
downtown Manhattan building.
The stakes were high. If the developer, Tamir Sapir, got the MTA lease,
he would also get a $230 million bank loan.
Sapir's contract with D'Amato stipulated that D'Amato get $100,000 up
front, as a retainer, and $400,000 if he was successful.

D'Amato called MTA Chairman Virgil Conway, a Pataki appointee. The MTA
leased the building, Sapir got his $230 million loan and D'Amato got his
$400,000 contingency fee. That fee was exempt from disclosure.
"God bless Mr. D'Amato, because if not for him, my business would be
broke," Sapir said at hearings held by Brodsky on the deal. Few of
D'Amato's clients are so effusive.

Verizon, for example, pays Park Strategies $300,000 a year for lobbying
in Albany.  But when asked for the details of D'Amato's services,
Verizon spokesman John Bonamo, said, "We do not discuss those things
publicly."
A spokesman for New York-Presbyterian Hospital, which is paying D'Amato
$120,000 this year, said: "Park Strategies is retained for public
affairs consulting and advising, and we have the option for lobbying."

Cablevision, which owns Madison Square Garden, acknowledges it hired
D'Amato to lobby against a new West Side stadium. But it will not say
how much it pays him.

"We decline comment," said Charlie Schuler, spokesman for Cablevision.
"Sen.  D'Amato has advised us on a number of issues over the past
several years and we respect his counsel."

In Albany, the most significant disclosure loophole is in contract
lobbying, also known as "procurement consulting."
In one of his recent "procurement" scores, D'Amato was the lobbyist for
a Tyco International subsidiary, M/A-Com Inc., which this spring won a
$1 billion contract to build a statewide wireless network for police and
emergency communications.
John Sununu, former governor of New Hampshire and the first President
George Bush's chief of staff, also lobbied for M/A-Com Inc.

The contract immediately drew fire from Democrats because the award
process and specifications are being kept under wraps.
"We didn't get copies of the proposals. We can't even get a copy of the
contract.  We're told it's between $1 [billion] and $2 billion," said
Assemblyman Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx), who held hearings on the deal last
month.

Klein said he asked officials from both M/A-Com and the state Office for
Technology how much D'Amato was paid as a lobbyist.

"There was no answer. They didn't answer, they said they didn't know,
they said it was proprietary. Eventually, we will subpoena the
information," said Klein. In a case of strange bedfellows, the lobbyist
for Motorola, the other main bidder on the wireless deal, was Joseph
O'Mara, the former Public Service Commission chairman.  O'Mara and
D'Amato are partners in another lobbying firm, D & O Consultants, which
represents a developer trying to build a 3.2 million-square-foot mall
and entertainment complex in Syracuse.

O'Mara said he saw no conflict of interest.

"We have clients with diverse interests," he said. "I've worked for
Motorola for a number of years, the senator had another client, and,
really, we weren't lobbying, we were consulting."

He declined to say how much he was paid by Motorola.

Immediate reform seems unlikely, although bipartisan bills that require
full disclosure by lobbyists have passed the Assembly and Senate, and
Pataki has introduced similar legislation, said his spokesman, Kevin
Quinn.

But a conference committee on the matter has yet to be set up and
sources said it is highly unlikely that any version of the bill will
become law this session. "It's going to get lost in horse trading on
other matters with the governor's office, the Senate and the Assembly,"
said a source.

Keeping score of Al's top 10 clients

Verizon
Annual fee — $300,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Public Service Commission, Empire
State Development Corp.
Reason hired — "We do not discuss these things publicly," said a Verizon
spokesman.
Pyramid Management Corp. Destiny USA
Annual fee — $180,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Legislature
Reason hired — To obtain zoning changes and other authorizations for a
proposed 3.2 million-square-foot Syracuse mall.
Concerned Health Care Providers
Annual fee — $180,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Dept. of Health, Legislature
Reason hired — To fight legislation capping profits for companies
providing home health aides.
American Waterways Operators
Annual fee — $144,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Legislature, Department of Taxation
and Finance Reason hired — To oppose proposed state taxes on barge and
tugboat operations.
Manhattan Theater Club
Annual fee — $120,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Legislature
Reason hired — "Liaison with Albany and Washington" regarding renovation
and fund-raising issues, according to a spokesman.
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Annual fee — $120,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Legislature, Department of Health
Reason hired — Public affairs consulting and advising.
Canadian American Transportation Systems
Annual fee — $120,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Legislature, Racing and Wagering Board
Reason hired — Consulting on ferry operations and video lottery
terminals.
Magna Entertainment Corp.
Annual fee — $120,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Legislature
Reason hired — To promote the company's gambling operations.

The Vector Group
Annual fee — $120,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Legislature
Reason hired — Cigarette manufacturing and distribution issues.

Lilac Capital
Annual fee — $60,000
Lobby target — Governor's office, Department of Insurance, Legislature
Reason hired — Lobbying on life insurance legislation and regulations.

Originally published on July 4, 2004
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/208968p-180120c.html

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