I think they should raise more than issues of fairness. He doles out so much money, our money by the way, to what appears to be either friends or politically connected with lots of cash.

Silver grant raises issue of fairness

Critics say state funds often go to the well-connected rather than to the neediest

ALBANY — During the racing meet each August, Barry K. Schwartz, the longtime chairman of the New York Racing Association, opens his Saratoga home to help Assembly Democrats raise campaign cash.

And annually over many years, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, sent an average of $250,000 in state money from his discretionary funds to a nonprofit organization in his district led by Schwartz’s daughter.

The events are unconnected, Silver’s spokesman said.

But such transactions and relationships, critics say, highlight problems of equity and fairness and cause appearances of conflicts.

The grants from Silver also underscore the Assembly’s 12-year struggle with getting funding during Gov. George Pataki’s tenure for its pet projects, Democratic officials say.

The member items, as the discretionary grants are called, to Schwartz’s daughter’s group are just a slice of the overall money available to Silver. He controls how the Assembly’s $85 million in member-item funds are used each year. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno controls his chamber’s $85 million pot, and both come from a $200 million pot of discretionary funds split between the Legislature and governor, who gets $30 million, each year.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, among others, don’t like the way the money gets doled out. They are insisting on more transparency and disclosure of such grants. Lawmakers have agreed to amend the process by spelling out the grants in the budget. But Silver and Bruno won’t agree to anything as dramatic as setting up an independent commission to review applications for the money, which Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco recommends.

Cuomo is now reviewing more than 6,000 grants designated this year by lawmakers and Pataki, who left office Dec. 31, to see if they benefit the public. A grant such as Silver’s, to an organization called Sanctuary for Families Inc., would likely not raise any flags since it would pass Cuomo’s test — having a contract and a public benefit.

“The funding that goes to that (Sanctuary) is predicated strictly on the value of the work that organization does,” said Charles Carrier, Silver’s spokesman. “This was done because in our conference we have supported these kinds of programs and invest to insure their viability. There is nothing particularly unique about this.”

Rachel Leon, executive director of Common Cause, said Silver’s grants to Sanctuary, like most member items, are probably worthwhile. But no one can be sure why Sanctuary receives money while other groups don’t, she said.

“You wouldn’t question the purpose, but you can question the connections,” she said. “One of the problems with member items is a lot of them appear to be because of personal connections between the member and someone in the community.”

She is among numerous critics calling for a more objective process.

Silver gives annual grants to Sanctuary’s Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services. The group also receives substantial funds from state agencies and other governments.

Its president for the past several years is Stephanie Schwartz Ferdman, who was vice president before that. Schwartz Ferdman recently stepped down from the board.

Barry Schwartz, her father, left NYRA’s chairmanship in December 2004 and departed NYRA’s board altogether in November 2005.