Good timing for good deal
June 9, 2008
The widow of former state Sen. Ron Stafford last month bought a home from the elder son of Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno at an apparent premium, at a time when she is seeking legislation that would benefit her company.
Kay Stafford bought 303 Bulson Road, Brunswick, for $475,000 from Joseph M. Bruno. Town records show the three-bedroom residence on 17 acres, which is next to the senator’s, is assessed at $74,100, with a total market value of $304,938. The deed transfer was recorded May 13. Stafford did not return calls.
In 2000, she married Sen. Ron Stafford, R-Plattsburgh, an ally of Sen. Bruno. As Finance Committee chair, Sen. Stafford was second to Bruno in influence in the Senate. He died three years ago after nearly 40 years in the Senate.
Kay Stafford leads CMA Consulting in Latham, a company that state comptroller records show has received 199 state contracts since 1998 worth $94.6 million. Most of that work — in computer programming services and technical database services — came in recent years.
CMA would benefit from a law proposed by Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman David Gantt, D-Rochester, that would allow counties to install cameras at traffic lights. The bill would require technology offered by CMA Consulting.
Gantt has come under criticism for the measure because he long opposed traffic light cameras. He changed his position after CMA hired his friend and former staffer Robert Scott Gaddy as its lobbyist.
Gantt said he does not know Stafford and has never talked to her.
John McArdle, the Senate communications director, said Kay Stafford had been a friend of the Bruno family for 25 years, and she saw the home in Brunswick as an opportunity to live closer to her grandchildren, who live in Williamstown, Mass. At about the same time he sold his home, Bruno’s son quit his $104,000 post as director of job order contracting at the State University Construction Fund on May 15, state records show. His state career began in 1995, shortly after his father rose to lead the Senate’s Republican majority and Gov. George Pataki took office.
Same old, same old
New York may have its first black governor, but the state’s public authorities are run largely by white males, according to a still-unreleased report.
The Government Law Center at Albany Law School, which trains authority board members, looked at 14 of the top panels, which account for 85 percent of the state’s debt. They included the Dormitory, Thruway, Power, and Metropolitan Transportation authorities.
The review found that women, who make up 51.5 percent of the state’s population, account for just 19 percent of the board positions, while minorities, who make up 39.5 percent of the state, accounted for 9 percent of board members.
The report, still in draft form, suggests the state at least try to have authority boards reflect the Legislature, which is 23.5 percent female and 21.7 percent minority.
Paterson’s office had no immediate comment on the recommendation or the findings.
Source: Times Union
Related Articles
- Former state senator Bruno takes job at company with state contracts
- Relationship between Gantt, ex-aide comes under fire
- Panel kills bill for city bus lane cameras
- Assemblyman David Gantt: County made up threats
- Joe Bruno won’t seek reelection
Comment on this article
