Times Union, politicians square off in lawsuit

Bruno, Silver accused of illegally concealing names of those spending taxpayer money

ALBANY — The Times Union faced off against the state today, arguing before a judge that New York’s most powerful political leaders have illegally concealed the names of their colleagues who arranged to spend millions in taxpayer money on their own pet projects.

“They believe they are above the law,” argued Eve Burton, general counsel for the Hearst Corp., which owns the newspaper.

“The two leaders are subject to FOIL,” Burton said. “And if they don’t like it, they can change it legislatively.”

The Times Union seeks to have a state Supreme Court justice compel Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to release the names of caucus members and pay legal fees for the lawsuit.

Visiting state Supreme Court Justice Robert A. Sackett of Sullivan County was assigned the case.

The lawsuit accuses Bruno and Silver of violating the state’s FOI Law as well as the public’s basic right to know how their own money is spent.

Assistant Attorney General Richard Lombardo, who is defending the Assembly and Senate leaders, said the names of lawmakers aren’t subject to FOIL, per the state Constitution’s speech and debate clause. He said it was right to redact the names on more than 8,000 member-item initiative forms his office provided, upon request.

“We’ve given them all the facts the public has a right to know,” Lombardo told Sackett. “Simply put, a member’s name on a piece of paper doesn’t make it FOIL-able.”

I hope they make some headway with this lawsuit, we sure haven’t been able to make them do anything. They consider themselves above us and all knowing.