How Tom Golisano flipped control of the New York State Senate by Delen Goldberg and John O'Brien / The Post-Standard Wednesday June 10, 2009, 6:33 AM
Billionaire Tom Golisano created a political group to bring transparency to Albany. But for more than a month, he conducted closed-door meetings to plot a Republican takeover of the state Senate.
He has been a strident advocate for campaign finance reform. Yet the three-time gubernatorial candidate courted a Democratic senator accused of failing to file campaign finance reports as part of his plan.
Golisano moved out of New York last month to save on income taxes. But the newly minted Florida resident is still interested in New York politics to the extent that he masterminded Monday's coup to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats.
Golisano says it was all about reforming a broken government. Others say it was payback punishment doled out to Democratic senators that Golisano helped elect only to see them cave on the issues he cared most about. Whatever his reasons, the very reformers Golisano said inspired him to lead the revolt say his actions are anything but democratic.
"That's absolutely not how a democracy should work," said Laura Seago, of New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, a leading voice for government reform. "Rich citizens should not be able to shape public policy or legislative happenings by throwing money around," she added.
Golisano is unapologetic, and hinted that he may just be getting started.
"I'm proud of the part that Responsible New York and I played in this change," Golisano said Tuesday, referring to his political group, which has poured millions of dollars into New York state races. "Who's next? Hopefully there are some members of the state Assembly who are willing to put reform above party."
After a reported meeting about six weeks ago with top GOP brass, Golisano sent aides into the Capitol to see which Democrats they could flip to vote with the Republicans.
When the coup succeeded, Golisano was center stage for the victory lap. Monday, he stood smiling next to Sen. Dean Skelos as Skelos staked his claim as new majority leader.
Tuesday, more than 100 voters and advocates convened at the Capitol to protest the Republican takeover.
At one point, Golisano peeked his head out of the office of Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., one of the Democratic defectors, only to be met with protesters chanting, "Golisano pays and Espada plays."
"He's a wolf in sheep's clothing," said Austin Shafran, spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Malcolm Smith. "He should be ashamed of himself. . . . I want to know how much did it cost to buy the government, to buy the state Senate, to buy the Senate Republicans? That's what I want to know from Tom Golisano."
Golisano's political group, Responsible New York, spent about $5 million last year on campaigns for state legislators who supported his reform platform. The group far exceeded the legal limits that political action committees are allowed to spend on campaigns. For state Senate races, the limit is $15,000 a year. In at least one race in the Buffalo area, Responsible New York spent more than $900,000 on one candidate.
Golisano gets around the limit by claiming the group is not a PAC but an "independent unauthorized committee." State law has no spending limits on such groups, but they must act completely independently of a candidate's committee.
The purpose of the law is to allow people to exercise their free-speech rights by spending as much money as they want on a candidate they agree with.
Erie County's two elections commissioners filed a complaint with the state Board of Elections this year contending Responsible New York was not acting independently and therefore was exceeding legal limits on spending. The state has not reached a decision.
Golisano used a "very large loophole" in the campaign finance law to spend unlimited amounts on his candidates of choice, said Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group. The law draws a line that's supposed to prevent contributors from coordinating in any way with the candidates, he said.
Golisano appeared to be "right on the line if he wasn't over," Horner said. "But he's certainly in the gray area."
Horner said he knew of no one using the loophole to the degree Responsible New York did.
"My guess is it opens the spigot for everyone else," Horner said.
Golisano defended the practice on his Web site.
"New York state and federal election laws allow us to make unlimited expenditures on behalf of or in opposition to candidates so long as we do not coordinate those expenditures," he wrote. "We will not coordinate any such expenditures."
Last month, Golisano moved his primary residence to his vacation home in Naples, Fla., during a staged media event aimed at calling attention to New York's high taxes. He said the move would save him $14,000 a day in taxes. At the time, Golisano already had been plotting his attempt to overthrow the Senate.
Though he railed against Albany's backroom dealings in his 2002 campaign for governor, that was his vehicle for reform this time.
His plan was perhaps hinted at in a letter to the editor of the Albany Times Union last month, when Golisano said the 2009 state budget was the last straw. He said the leaders of the state Legislature looked to satisfy special interests and unions instead of the people. The budget included a "millionaire's tax."
More recently, Golisano chastised Democratic leaders for failing to put into place promised reforms. Monday's revolt was payback.
"If the Democrats had passed broader reform earlier this year, if they had held the budget process in the open, he couldn't make the arguments he's making," said Seago, of the Brennan Center.
Golisano helped install many of the people he publicly reprimanded by donating to their campaigns. His group supported 25 Democrats in their run for Senate, including North Country Sen. Darrel Aubertine. Several were incumbents. Many of those Democrats were left literally in the dark Monday when the Republicans overtook the Senate. At one point, the lights were turned out on the Senate floor in an attempt to stop the power struggle.
Golisano ran for governor three times on the Independence line, in 1994, 1995 and 2002. He never received more than 14 percent of the vote. Some have estimated he spent more than $75 million on advertising on his 2002 campaign.
He has been as large a force is the philanthropic world as he has been in the political. In 2005, Golisano donated $6 million to help create the Golisano Children's Hospital at Upstate Medical University. His foundation has given an estimated $80 million to schools, universities and hospitals.
At least one political scientist sided with Golisano and his approach to reform state government.
"To me, it's pure old-fashioned political muscle," said Robert Spitzer, of the State University College at Cortland. "Is it illegal? No. Unethical? No. It's hardball politics. As a New Yorker, I'm uncomfortable with a private citizen having a lot of money and throwing around his weight. But in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, it's hard to criticize."