Comptroller Rejects Stipends for State Senators Citing False Titles

ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Comptroller’s Office has rejected tens of thousands of dollars in stipends for five state senators after an investigation revealed that the lawmakers had been assigned false titles as chairs of committees they did not lead and as a result had been paid for jobs they did not hold.

The action came less than a month after the comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, a Democrat, had warned Republican officials in the Senate that documents listing the five senators — all Republicans or members of a group of rogue Democrats who have collaborated with the GOP — were demonstrably false. In each case, the senators were listed in those documents — and therefore being paid — as chairs of various Senate committees when they actually served as vice chairs, an unpaid position.

Documents about the denied stipends were obtained through a Freedom of Information request. They show that lawyers for the Senate Republicans had strenuously argued that the senators’ stipends should be paid because “it is within the prerogative of the Senate to name its officers” and “to cause the payment for those services.”

The lawyers also accused the comptroller of violating the separation of powers doctrine, according to a March 20 letter signed by David L. Lewis, the Senate majority’s counsel, saying it “expects that the comptroller shall obey the constitution requirement and pay the allowances.”

But DiNapoli’s office rejected that reasoning, answering Lewis’ demands with a question of their own.

“Where is the authority for payment to be made to a member of the Senate in the special capacity of ‘vice chair’ of a committee?” wrote Christopher M. Gorka, the deputy comptroller, on March 23, adding, “Until this question is answered, we are unable to pay.”

The state Comptroller’s Office had already paid 25 percent of the yearly stipend to the five senators, but declined the remaining 75 percent — totaling $54,750 — that was due to be paid this week.

State legislative law 5-a expressly says what senators are to be paid for various leadership positions. Vice chairs are not listed as receiving any payments.

The use of false titles in requests for stipends, known as “lulus” in Albany, was uncovered last year by The New York Times, prompting an investigation by federal authorities in Brooklyn. The authorities declined to comment on the investigation.

The five senators who were assigned false titles are Diane J. Savino and Jose R. Peralta, both members of the Independent Democratic Conference, a eight-member faction that has helped the GOP rule the Senate; and Sens. Thomas F. O’Mara, Patrick M. Gallivan and Patty Ritchie, all Republicans from upstate.

In each case, the senators served as vice chairs, while the actual chairpeople — all of whom are Republicans — received larger stipends for other leadership roles. By law, no senator is allowed more than one stipend, however, so the stipends for those committees would have gone unpaid had the vice chairs not attempted to claim them.

The news of the rejected payments came the same day as word of a possible reconciliation in Democratic ranks in the Senate, where the IDC’ s seven-year collaboration with the GOP has been a point of intense unhappiness among many mainstream Democrats and progressive groups.

The deal for the IDC to dissolve could impact committee chairs as well since those positions are granted by Republicans led by state Sen. John J. Flanagan of Long Island.

Two other members of the IDC — Jeffrey D. Klein, who leads the group, and David Valesky, his deputy — were allowed to receive their stipends, totaling $61,500 for the year, after the comptroller determined that their assigned titles “vice president pro tempore” and “senior assistant majority leader of the Senate” were supported by other documents. Neither man, however, had used such titles on their websites or professional biographies.

In a separate letter dated Friday, Savino and Peralta told the comptroller that they would decline their stipend payments — which had already been rejected — until their legality is determined.