Dispute over naming center for Roger Ailes

• Roger Ailes will donate %24500%2C000 to help outfit Putnam%27s planned senior center in Cold Spring
• Putnam County wants to name the the Roger Ailes Senior Center
• County policy prohibits naming a county facility for a living person

Once a lease is approved, the name of Fox News Channel CEO and Chairman Roger Ailes would grace the facade of Putnam County's proposed senior center in Philipstown, following the media mogul's pledge of $500,000 to outfit the meeting place for his adopted hometown's elderly residents.

Ailes and his wife, Elizabeth, the publisher of two weekly newspapers that cover Putnam County government, soaked in the accolades Wednesday morning. Close to 200 residents gathered under a tent at the former Julia D. Butterfield Hospital for the groundbreaking of a mixed-use project that will include the senior center, shops, office space and housing.

A rendering of the building, to be located on Route 9D in the village of Cold Spring, was on display, with ROGER AILES SENIOR CENTER displayed in sans serif font across the second floor of a building Putnam County is in negotiations to rent for 15 years. A smiling Ailes stood with his wife, holding the framed rendering. Photographers clicked away.

Putting Ailes' name on the building would be a fitting way for the GOP-controlled Putnam County government to recognize Ailes, the political consultant to Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush and right-leaning television executive who has transformed cable network news with the Fox News Channel.

Ailes' donation will include the $250,000 Bradley Foundation journalism prize he received in 2013 and a $250,000 matching grant from his personal fortune, according to Putnam County Executive Maryellen Odell, who sang Ailes' praises Wednesday morning. The total cost of of the senior center has not been disclosed.

But Ailes, who lauded Odell for "the great job you are doing for the county," has a fight on his hands regarding the placement of his name on the building.

A 2008 resolution of the Putnam County Legislature, signed by then County Executive Robert Bondi, prohibits naming any county building or facility for a living person. Any such naming can occur no sooner than five years after a person's death. But the policy allowed buildings already named for a living person to remain. The issue last arose in 2012 when residents raised questions about the Sen. Vincent Leibell Veterans Residence of Putnam County, after Leibell was sentenced to federal prison on corruption charges.

The name of the disgraced Republican kingpin stayed.

Odell told Tax Watch that naming the county senior center after Ailes and putting his name on the building's facade would be allowable because Putnam County planned to rent the space in Paul Guillaro's Butterfield development, which includes 55 condominiums for homeowners 55 and older, three single-family homes, and 31,000 square feet of commercial space.

"But we don't own the building," she said. "We are just leasing it."

However, the county policy covers county facilities as well as county buildings. Odell herself called the senior center a "facility" in her remarks on Wednesday.

"We worked with you, to make you have the right and proper facility, with all the respect and dignity that you deserve," Odell said to the Philipstown seniors attending the ceremony.

County Legislator Dini LoBue, R-Mahopac, said Putnam law prohibits naming the senior center for Ailes.

"It would be nice if we could recognize Mr. Ailes for his generous contribution," said LoBue. "Unfortunately the law adopted in 2008, and voted on by former County Legislator Odell, prohibits us from doing so."

Roger Ailes, through a Fox News spokeswoman, said in a statement that his pledge was not contingent upon naming rights to the building.

"While he was grateful for the decision, he had nothing to do with it," the statement said. "His main focus throughout this process has been to provide senior citizens with a place to gather and socialize, given this was non-existent in the area. He has no interest in the hysteria that has been inexplicably spawned by a few local critics who see even a compassionate and humanitarian effort through a political lens."

The Butterfield project would remake a crucial parcel along the village's commercial corridor that has fallen into disrepair since the hospital closed in 1993. The Putnam County Industrial Development Agency on Tuesday approved abatement on sales taxes and mortgage recording taxes. Demolition of the former hospital buildings are slated for later this summer.

Still pending are details of a lease between Putnam County and developer Paul Guillaro, president of Unicorn Contracting Corp. Two months ago, the Putnam County Legislature approved a non-binding letter of intent for the senior center, which included yet-to-disclosed terms for the 15-year lease. But Guillaro has not signed the letter, said Andrew Negro, Putnam's first deputy county attorney.

Unicorn general manager Diane Ferris said talks continue.

"We are working out one last item on the letter, and are working on lease negotiations with the county," she said.

Hammering out the lease details, and winning approval for the deal from the County Legislature will determine whether Ailes' $500,000 donation will find a home — with or without his name on its facade.

Twitter: @davidmckay415