By Jennifer Warren
One of the largest political contributors for City Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s $6 million mayoral campaign is a little-known PAC by the name of Old Country from Hicksville, L.I. The somewhat obscure Old Country committee is perhaps better known by the contracting company behind it, Silverite Construction.
Silverite, also based in Hicksville, L.I., was the subject of a 1998 federal probe after receiving a $97 million Metropolitan Transit Authority contract to repair the Queens-Midtown tunnel. The company was a large financial backer of Republican Gov. George Pataki and the New York Republican State Committee, The New York Times reported.
Hevesi in his bid for mayor has raised an estimated $6.4 million, nearly double that of the other Democratic candidates’ funds. City Council speaker Peter Vallone (D-Astoria), Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and Public Advocate Mark Green have each raised just above $3 million, according to the Campaign Finance Board’s filings.
Running on the Republican ticket, billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg plans to fund his campaign with his own wealth, and Herman Badillo, a former U.S. congressman and Bronx borough president, has raised about $100,000, but has spent most of it, according to board filings.
The Long Island-based Silverite’s website said it is a company offering construction, trucking, and realty. The group develops, constructs and manages “large-scale, complex construction projects throughout the New York area for municipal, county state and regional agencies,” according to the website.
On Feb. 5, 1998 Old Country — whose treasurer is listed with the New York State Election Board as Gerard Sims, an affiliate of Silveri Construction — contributed $7,700 to Hevesi’s mayoral campaign, according to New York City Campaign Finance Board filings.
The campaign office of Alan Hevesi and Angelo Silveri, the owner of Silverite, failed to return repeated phone calls for comment by press time.
Today Silverite is six months into a five-year, $124.8 million contract with the city Department of Environmental Protection to upgrade Brooklyn’s Newton Creek Waste Water treatment plant, said DEP spokesman, Geoff Ryan. The Newton contract was awarded Sept. 25, 2000 and work began in December, said David Newstadt, a spokesman for the city comptroller’s office.
The awarding of city contracts is the mayor’s responsibility. In 1989 after a new city charter was adopted, the office of the mayor became the ultimate power in granting contracts. The comptroller counsels and audits the mayor’s selections.
“We shouldn’t be allowing people who are trying to obtain contracts to be making campaign contributions,” said Ron Deutsch, vice chairman of the board for Common Cause, a Washington, D.C. advocacy group for campaign finance reform. “While we don’t know if anything done was improper, there seems to be an inherent conflict of interest. The appearance of impropriety or favoritism is certainly there.”
Old Country’s February 1998 contributions to Hevesi’s campaign came eight months before the City Council overhauled campaign finance regulations. In October 1998 the new law lowered the limit of campaign contributions to $4,500 from $7,700 for mayoral candidates and required all political action committees to provide identifying information, including the name of a treasurer.
Because of its early filings Old Country was not required to meet the two new stipulations.
As early as August 1998, Hevesi’s name was floated as a mayoral front-runner for the election that was still three years away. That year, Silveri made contributions in his own name to Hevesi. The same day that Old Country made its donation on Feb. 5, 1998, Silveri contributed $1,402. In December 2000 Silveri contributed another $500 to the comptroller’s mayoral campaign.
Silveri also made contributions to City Council Speaker Peter Vallone (D-Astoria) for his mayoral bid with three donations totaling $3,872 between October 1999 and December 2000, according to Campaign Finance Board filings. However, Silveri’s Old Country PAC remained faithful to Hevesi. According to campaign finance filings he was its sole beneficiary.
Just two months before the Queens-Midtown contract was awarded, Silverite’s Silveri and affiliates contributed more than $100,000 to Pataki and the Republican committee in 1998, The Times said. Silverite was initially deemed too inexperienced for the lucrative four-year contract.
Following the contributions, Silverite received the contract after the MTA allowed the firm to revamp its bid, according to The Times.
The governor appoints 18 of the 20 members who make up the Metropolitan Transportation Authority with advice from the state Senate. The agency has jurisdiction over the city’s public transportation, Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road as well as bridges and tunnels.
Ultimately, State Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos ruled that the MTA did not violate regulations in awarding the contract to Silverite.
Reach reporter Jennifer Warren by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 155.
