And then there is this....
"...Company officials thanked State Sens. George D. Maziarz and Timothy M. Kennedy for their help with permitting by the state DEC.Maziarz, R-Newfane, said he was able to help get the DEC “off their back” several years ago, when the agency wanted to designate the company as a scrap yard. That would have made for a more onerous permitting process, Maziarz said.
“I think these guys are going to go places,” Maziarz said.
Kennedy, D-Buffalo, said he was able to help with an expedited permit from the DEC.
Kennedy said Bordynuik’s company is something the area should be proud to have, describing it as one that protects the environment and creates jobs.
“It’s something we all strive for and he’s doing it,” Kennedy said."
George Maziarz steps down amid corruption probe
niagara-gazette.com
Rick Pfeiffer rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com | Posted: Thursday, January 1, 2015 3:00 am
The silence from a federal grand jury, sitting in Manhattan, has been deafening.
Since July, the members of that panel have been weighing a public corruption case against a man who was once one of the most powerful politicians in Niagara County. And there's no indication when or if the grand jury will ever act against George Maziarz.
Maziarz's almost incomprehensible fall from the corridors of power in Albany is the Gazette's top story of 2014.
The story broke late on a Sunday afternoon in July, when word began leaking out that the long time Republican power-broker would decline his party's nomination for another term representing the 62nd New York State Senate Distirct. It was an extraordinary end to a 36-year political career that started in the city of North Tonawanda and saw Maziarz rise to become the third most powerful Republican in the state senate
Within hours of the Gazette's first report of Maziarz's stepping down, the senator released a statement, announcing his intention to “retire.”
“It is no secret to my family and close friends that I have been considering retirement from the state legislature for the last five years,” Maziarz said in the statement. “And as I geared up for another long campaign season, I realized I just did not have the passion and commitment that I have had in the past to see it through.”
Maziarz's retirement followed the departure, days before, of two of his top senate staffers. Chief of Staff Alisa Colatarci and Office Manager Marcus Hall stepped down after being subpoenaed by the federal grand jury in Manhattan.
The senators departure also came on the heels of the indictment of fellow Republican State Sen. Thomas Libous. Libous, then the Deputy Majority Coalition Leader in the state senate, was charged by a different federal grand jury, in White Plains, New York with making false statements to the FBI.
The FBI investigation had focused on payments Libous allegedly made to an Albany lobbying firm to hire his son, Matthew Libous.
In addition to Colatarci and Hall, the Gazette also learned that the treasurer of Maziarz’s campaign committee, Laureen Jacobs, was subpoenaed earlier in the year by investigators from the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara. Those subpoenas reportedly sought financial records from Maziarz’s campaign committee.
Bharara has been conducting multiple investigations of public corruption in New York state government in the aftermath of the dismantling of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. That commission was disbanded not long after it was established by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
City and state magazine reported in May that Maziarz had been on the Moreland Commission’s radar before it was disbanded because he “shelled out more than $140,000 in campaign funds over a six-year period without identifying what, exactly, he purchased.” The magazine said the undocumented expenditures were “by far the most of any state lawmaker.”
State law restricts what campaign contributions can be spent on.
Attorneys for Maziarz's former staffers and campaign treasurer have indicated they don't believe their clients did anything wrong. Jacob's attorney, Terrence Connors, citing the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, declined to comment on whether she was even subpoenaed or what investigators may have been looking to find.
"There is no clear indication that Laureen Jacobs did anything wrong," Connors said. "If she is asked for records, as the treasurer of the (Maziarz campaign) committee, she will provide them."
The attorney for Colatarci, the former United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, Daniel French, did confirm his client was subpoenaed by the grand jury.
"Alisa is not the target of the investigation and has cooperated fully," French said.
Hall also lawyered up with a former federal prosecutor, Rodney Personius.
Bharara's office has said nothing about the Maziarz investigation. The now former senator has also stayed mum.
He will be replaced at the state house, today, by former North Tonawanda Mayor Rob Ortt.
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