By William Opalka
A former top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is under federal investigation for his dealings with companies with business before state government, including power plant developer Competitive Power Ventures, according to the New York Daily News.
The report, citing unnamed sources, said CPV hired Joseph Percoco as a consultant. He and several other people are being investigated by Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, for improper lobbying and undisclosed conflicts of interest. Percoco made $169,000/year as Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary, according to the paper.
Percoco received payments from the companies while he served as Cuomo’s campaign manager in 2014, according to the Daily News. He returned to the state payroll for about a year after the election.
According to the paper’s sources, those payments were legal; the investigation reportedly concerns whether the payments went unreported, and if Percoco was involved in state business that involved CPV and another company that hired him. Percoco left the Cuomo administration to take an executive position at Madison Square Garden in January.
CPV is building the 650-MW natural gas-fired Valley Energy Center in Orange County, north of New York City. The New York Public Service Commission granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the project two years ago (10-E-0501). The plant broke ground last year, and its addition to the state’s power portfolio impacted transmission planning, as it will help relieve downstate constraints. (See NYPSC Staff Narrows Transmission Alternatives.)
A CPV spokesman did not return calls seeking comment.
In a recent filing with the PSC, the company said it sought to keep its structural drawings private because the plant site has been the focus of weekly protests.
Bharara served a subpoena on the governor’s office on Friday. The Cuomo administration released a statement saying, “We take violations of the public trust seriously and we believe these issues must be resolved by further investigation by the U.S. attorney. In the meantime, and as the program operates on a daily basis, the governor has ordered an immediate full review of the program.”
The governor also ordered state employees to suspend any discussions of regulatory or other matters with CPV, the Daily News reported.
The primary focus of the investigation is the so-called Buffalo Billion economic development program championed by Cuomo. Bharara’s probe began last fall. A centerpiece of that program is $750 million in direct state aid and tax credits to SolarCity, which is building a 1-GW solar panel factory, the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, according to the state.
Bharara has prosecuted and convicted several state legislators in recent years in corruption probes. Last December, he won convictions of the Democratic Speaker of the Assembly and the Republican Senate Majority Leader.