By Howard Koplowitz and Ivan Pereira
State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans), then Democratic majority leader, spent more than $6,500 on a box at Saratoga Race Course to “entertain supporters” just four days after the June 8 coup that temporarily gave Republicans the control of the state Senate, campaign finance records show.
Listed under the “fund-raiser” category for state Campaign Finance Board expenses, Smith’s campaign paid $6,723.50 June 12 for the box at the Saratoga track for the summer racing season.
Shams Tarek, a spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, said no fund-raising was done at the track and it was only listed that way in campaign finance records “because of the technical reporting requirements.”
Since the June 8 coup, when renegade Democratic Sens. Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst) and Pedro Espada (D-Bronx) sided with Republicans in the Senate, Smith’s campaign has spent more than $36,000.
The fund-raiser category accounted for about half of Smith’s spending since the June 8 coup, according to state Campaign Finance Board records.
Tarek said the race tickets were planned by Smith “a long time before the coup.”
He said the expense was a justified use of Smith’s campaign funds.
“There’s nothing inappropriate about it. It’s well within the rules,” he said. “It’s just something different. He uses it to entertain supporters.”
Susan Lerner, executive director of the good government group Common Cause/NY, said regulations covering campaign expenses are too vague to determine what kind of spending would be considered appropriate.
“The rules in New York are so elastic as to be meaningless,” Lerner said. “There’s virtually no guidance. This is an example as to why there needs to be a clear line.”
“Would the average person in Queens like that amount of money to go to something productive? I think so,” she said. “Does the ordinary resident of Queens have a box seat at Saratoga? Probably not. It’s a nice place to take people to impress them with your connections and to get them to do you favors and give you money. That’s what it is.”
But Tarek differentiated the purchase of the Saratoga tickets, bought with private money donated to Smith’s campaign, from the use of taxpayer dollars.
Monserrate returned to the Democratic caucus shortly after the coup, but it took nearly a month of political gridlock before Espada did the same.
After he switched back to the Democrats, Espada was given the title of majority leader – a post Smith previously held.
The St. Albans senator is now known as president pro tempore of the Senate. State Sen. John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) was given the ambiguous title of Democratic conference leader, which Smith explained meant Sampson would run the day-to-day operations of the conference.
Monserrate’s spent more than $12,000 since the June 8 coup, $10,000 of which was a refund to Bronx-based Schur Management Co. for office expenses.
Other than the Schur payments and a $1,018.55 payment to Monserrate’s spokesman, Paul Marin, for office expenses, the senator did not have any expenses larger than $200.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
