The state Attorney General’s office has issued subpoenas to the re-election campaign of Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and two other Republican groups, requesting information on embattled Hurricane Sandy contractor Looks Great Services and a MetLife Stadium skybox bought by a Republican committee headed by Deputy County Executive Rob Walker.
The subpoenas arrived nearly two months after reports that the attorney general’s office launched an investigation into Looks Great Services, which received nearly $70 million in county contracts for repair work after Sandy and was the target of outcry by Democrats earlier this year for financial support of Mangano’s campaign that allegedly exceeded legal contribution limits. The contributions that exceeded the state’s $5,000 limit for corporations have since been refunded, according to the Mangano campaign’s July financial filings.
Nassau County Democratic leader Jay Jacobs filed legal complaints with the state attorney general, county district attorney and state board of elections in February over Looks Great’s campaign contributions and the Hicksville Republican Club’s purchase of the Metlife Stadium skybox.
Jacobs alleged that the club, headed by Walker, used the skybox to fundraise for Mangano’s campaign without reporting the use of the venue as an in-kind contribution to Mangano.
Mangano’s campaign has rejected any allegations of wrongdoing.
“We are fully compliant with the law and have provided the very same documents to the Board of Elections earlier this year that indicate all contributions were legally reported,” wrote Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin in an e-mail. “The Democrats are simply throwing mud to distract voters from their record of hiking property taxes by 42%.”
Jacobs told Blank Slate Media in an e-mail that there were “substantive questions” about Mangano’s campaign finances.
“It appears that, at the very least, Ed Mangano’s campaign has engaged in the practice of evading the transparency requirements imposed on the collection of campaign contributions,” wrote Jacobs. “Moreover, the use of the money is suspect and his campaign has not complied with the requirement that reimbursements to individuals be itemized so that the public can know, as required by law, where the money is being spent.”
The attorney general’s office declined to comment for this article, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.
Newsday reported that the subpoenas were sent to Mangano’s campaign, the Mangano campaign’s attorney John Ryan and the attorney for the Nassau Republican.
Ryan told Newsday that the Hicksville Republican Club, which he also represents, had not received a subpoena.
New York state campaign finance records show that Looks Great gave the Mangano campaign $10,500 in 2012. State campaign finance law limits the amount a corporation can give to a committee to $5,000 per year.
Jacobs’ February complaint alleged that the Hicksville Republican Club, which saw a spike in donations after Walker was appointed Mangano’s deputy, used its contributions to illegally benefit Mangano’s campaign.
Donations reached $363,355 in 2010, a 10-fold increase from its average donations in the years preceding Walker’s appointment, according to the complaint.
Jacobs accused the Hicksville club of serving as a straw donor for contributors wishing to contribute to Mangano without having their names appear on the campaign’s financial filings.
“It doesn’t smell good. We don’t believe that it’s right, and that’s why we filed the complain as we did,” Jacobs said in February.
The complaint also accuses the Hicksville club of purchasing a luxury box at MetLife Stadium for more than $200,000 and using it to host fundraisers for Mangano while failing to report that use as an in-kind contribution to Mangano’s campaign.
The Hicksville club did report a $48,000 in-kind transfer to Mangano’s campaign in its January campaign filing, but the complaint also alleges that the Hicksville club exceeded its legal limits on campaign spending.
In May the attorney general’s office subpoenaed the county executive’s office, the county Legislature, the clerk of the Legislature, purchasing, public works, the county Legislature’s office of budget review and the office of Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos for information about post-Sandy contracts issued to Looks Great.
The county said it was fully cooperating with that investigation and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos said that an Office of Legislative Budget Review memo vindicated his office’s oversight of payments to the contractor.
Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x203 or on Twitter @dglaun. Also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
