Records expose ex-Cuomo aide's ties

ALBANY – The former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the heart of a corruption probe was paid tens of thousands of dollars by a pair of firms tied to some of the governor’s biggest economic-development projects, state records released Monday show.

Joseph Percoco, Cuomo’s former executive deputy secretary, received between $70,000 and $125,000 total from Albany-based CHA Consulting Inc. and Syracuse-based COR Development in 2014, according to his state-mandated financial disclosure form.

Both firms have extensive business with the state: CHA holds more than two dozen state contracts worth more than $70 million, while COR Development has received more than $10 million in state grants and tax incentives in recent years.

The new disclosure highlights the complex web of influence and money at the center of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation into the Cuomo administration’s economic-development initiatives, as well as Percoco’s apparent dual role as a well-paid consultant and Cuomo confidant.

Email records, meanwhile, also show a lobbyist at the center of the investigation – Todd Howe, who worked with Cuomo in Washington and has deep ties to Percoco – was involved in behind-the-scenes discussions about the AIM Photonics Institute, a $600 million joint federal-state project awarded to the Rochester area last year.

Percoco’s payments

Percoco, a resident of Lewisboro, Westchester County, took a leave of absence from his state job for much of 2014 to serve as campaign manager for Cuomo’s successful re-election bid.

During that year, he received between $50,000 and $75,000 in “consulting fees” from COR Development and between $20,000 and $50,000 from CHA Consulting.

Both companies have received work through the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, the Albany- and Utica-based college that has taken a lead role in the state’s nanotechnology boom and Cuomo’s economic-development initiatives, including the Buffalo Billion – a pledge to spend $1 billion in state funds to revitalize the state’s second-largest city.

Percoco’s wife, meanwhile, listed receiving between $80,000 and $120,000 from an entity called Chris Pitts LLC in 2012 and 2014. Percoco did not file a financial disclosure form for 2013, the deadline for which came when he was off the state payroll.

Chris Pitts LLC, which is not listed in New York’s corporation database, shares a name with a consultant tied to Competitive Power Ventures,  The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The firm is building a major power plant in Orange County,

“CPV has been contacted by the US Attorney’s office to provide information related to past engagements with a small number of consultants,” CPV spokesman Thomas Rumsey said in a statement. “We are complying with these requests.”

Extensive ties

Cuomo's office on Friday received a subpoena from Bharara's office. That led Cuomo's counsel Alphonso David to announe Cuomo's office had hired a former federal prosecutor to conduct its own internal review.

David acknowledged Bharara "has an ongoing investigation focused in upstate New York (commonly referred to as the Buffalo Billion and Nano investigation)."

CHA handled the civil-engineering work for the RiverBend project, a major state-backed initiative which will house a $900 million Solar City plant as part of the Buffalo Billion initiative, The Buffalo News reported Saturday.

The firm has held about 30 state contracts worth $71 million since 2000, not counting RiverBend.

COR Development, meanwhile, has led the construction of a SUNY Poly facility in DeWitt, Onondaga County.

The company has also led the development of Syracuse’s Inner Harbor – which has garnered COR more than $10 million in state grants and incentives through the Regional Economic Development Council process. The councils were created in 2011 to distribute development dollars.

Michael McGovern, an attorney representing CHA, said the company is "cooperating fully with the US Attorney's office and have been responding to their requests."

"Based on those discussions, it is our understanding that we are not a target of the investigation," McGovern said in a statement.

When asked about Percoco’s disclosure, COR spokeswoman Maggie Truax issued a statement saying the company "did not hire, retain or pay Joe Percoco in any capacity." She did not respond when asked for further clarification about the contradiction in Percoco’s disclosure form.

Steven Aiello, COR’s president, has been a major contributor to Cuomo’s campaign. He and his wife contributed $96,000 to the campaign since 2011, while LLCs tied to COR’s address have contributed more than $85,000, state records show.

Percoco left state employment late last year to become an executive at The Madison Square Garden Company, though Cuomo at the time said the move was a personal decision and not related to any investigation.

Barry Bohrer, Percoco's attorney, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Cuomo said he didn't believe Percoco did anything illegal, but he was waiting for his office's internal review to be completed.

"Let’s get the full facts, but can you leave state service and then represent companies that deal with the state? Yes, you can," Cuomo told reporters in Manhattan on Monday night. "You can’t appear on their behalf before the state. There’s a 2-year ban."

Photonics questions

Along with the companies that paid Percoco, all of the key players in the investigation have key ties to SUNY Poly, the institute led by Alain Kaloyeros, who has taken a central role in many of Cuomo’s economic-development initiatives.

That includes Howe, the president of WOH Government Solutions, the Washington-based subsidiary of Albany-based lobbying firm Whiteman Osterman & Hanna.

Howe is a former aide to then-Gov. Mario Cuomo. He followed Andrew Cuomo to Washington when he was named President Bill Clinton’s housing and urban development secretary, serving as the younger Cuomo’s deputy chief of staff.

An email obtained through the Freedom of Information Law earlier this year by the Democrat and Chronicle shows Howe was involved in behind-the-scenes talks about the photonics center in Rochester, which is being led by SUNY Poly.

In the July 31 email, Kaloyeros sent an email to Howe, a Cuomo staffer and a SUNY Poly spokesman with attachments that included apparent details of the structure of the AIM Photonics board.

The board’s structure had been a major sticking point in a dispute between the SUNY Poly chief and University of Rochester President Joel Seligman, who remains at odds with Kaloyeros and recently stepped down from his role as co-chair of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council.

Howe has not responded to emails about Bharara’s probe, nor did he respond to a request for comment about his involvement with the AIM Photonics Institute.

A spokesman for SUNY Poly did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Lawmakers return

Bharara's probe is swirling around the state Capitol just as the Legislature returns from a three-week, post-budget recess.

Assemblyman Bill Nojay, R-Pittsford, Monroe County, said the problem lies in the lack of strong ethics laws in New York.

Cuomo and the state Legislature have passed four rounds of reforms in recent years, but critics said none have improved the Capitol's corrupt culture.

"All the prior efforts to clean up corruption in Albany have failed. They always just nibbled around the edges," he said.

New York lacks any strong oversight, said Brandon Muir, executive director of Reclaim New York, a good-government group.

"The core of this is what New Yorkers see: A culture of corruption that is not being addressed in any real way," he said.

Albany Bureau Chief Joseph Spector contributed to this report.