State senator investigations must be in vogue this season.
According to a report in the New York Daily News, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has subpoenaed education groups tied to State Senator Shirley Huntley.
Parent Information Network, headed by Huntley’s daughter, Pamela Corley, received a subpoena on Tuesday, March 15; as did Vanessa Sparks, head of Parent Workshop, a non-profit organization created by Huntley before she became a senator.
The subpoenas are seeking information on how the two groups used state grants. The News also reported that Parents Information Network received $30,000 from the state since Huntley took office in 2007, using Huntley’s home address. Since Huntley took office, the group has received nearly $400,000 in state grants.
Corley no longer lives in Queens, however, Huntley has said her address is still used by the non-profit because its leaders want to remain a Queens entity.
It was also reported that Huntley had secured a $30,000 grant for Parents Workshop, and that a $125,000 grant Huntley tried to secure for the Parents Workshop was canceled after it was deemed to be a conflict of interest.
Also, the Conference of Black Senators, of which Huntley is currently a member, secured a separate $100,000 grant for the group – though it has yet to be paid out.
Both Huntley and the attorney general’s office declined to comment for this story as of press time.
This is Schneiderman’s first probe in connection with the legislature since he took the attorney general’s office.
