Syracuse, NY - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday launched an investigation into the New York State Fair, including a criminal probe of former Director Peter Cappuccilli, Jr. Cuomo is responding to a recent inspector general’s report that alleges Cappuccilli squandered about $860,000 in state funds, including $78,000 for his own personal use. Inspector General Joseph Fisch said Cappuccilli...
Syracuse, NY - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday launched an investigation into the New York State Fair, including a criminal probe of former Director Peter Cappuccilli, Jr.
Cuomo is responding to a recent inspector general’s report that alleges Cappuccilli squandered about $860,000 in state funds, including $78,000 for his own personal use. Inspector General Joseph Fisch said Cappuccilli used state funds for lavish parties, holiday cards and his daughter’s wedding.
Cuomo is also interested in the inspector general’s finding that there were $829,000 in payroll hires of friends and relatives and a charge of falsifying records.
Cuomo, a Democrat running for governor, has launched two separate investigations. One is a criminal investigation of the former director based on allegations in the inspector general’s report. The second is a broad investigation of patronage, cronyism and wasteful spending at the fair, a request sent over Monday night from Gov. David Paterson.
Cappuccilli was fair director from 1995 to 2005 under Republican Gov. George Pataki. He declined comment.
Cuomo issued subpoenas Tuesday to five contractors and related entities and asked for documents from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, which oversees the fair, and the New York State Police.
Subpoenas went to the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes; Catering with a Flair; Clear Channel Radio; Latorra, Paul and McCann Advertising and Progressive Expert Consulting. The subpoenas ask for information related to ticketing, contracting, hiring and other management and financial practices involving the state fair.
The companies were featured in Fisch’s 147-page report, issued in early August.
The report alleges that Catering with a Flair gave Cappuccilli a $20,000 discount for catering his daughter, Molly’s wedding reception in June 2004. It was the biggest event the fair caterers had ever put on: a six-hour open bar with a raw bar, meat carving stations and chocolate fondue for 450 guests. The caterers said they never expected Cappuccilli to pay the full $43,101 bill.
Since 1990, Catering with a Flair has held an exclusive contract for year-round events at the Empire Room and other rooms at the fair’s Art & Home Center. One partner, Ronald Rescignano, owner of the Twin Trees Too!, told investigators that Cappuccilli was doing the caterers a favor by allowing them to throw a showcase wedding. Another partner, William Jackson, said the discount was to thank Cappuccilli for personal favors.
Progressive Expert Consulting, a Syracuse company, supplied wireless Internet services at the fair until 2009.
The state fair used the company without seeking the required competitive bids. The fair also allowed the company to install the equipment and charge vendors with no contract and no approval from the state comptroller’s office. The fair also never tried to bring in a portion of those fees for state government.
The company is owned by Betty and Francis Feng. The company first worked at the fair during a lunch for Hillary Rodham Clinton, during her campaign for the U.S. Senate. The Fengs, who have political and social ties to the Clintons, agreed to Webcast that event for free, the report said. Later, someone from the fair asked them about upgrading the fair’s information systems for vendors. Charging $10 per person per day, the company earned $157,000 from fees paid by vendors between 2004 and 2007, the report said.
Not everyone who was subpoenaed is a target of the investigations, Cuomo’s staff said. Some, like the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team and Clear Channel Radio, are witnesses.
The Hurricanes are involved because of a former employee. In 2002, Cappuccilli hired Tim Kuhl, his friend from his former job as vice president of the Syracuse Crunch AHL hockey team, as a sponsorship sales consultant and later promoted him to sales manager.
Kuhl left the region for North Carolina to work full-time for the Hurricanes. But he remained on the state payroll for nine months while he was in North Carolina, the report alleged. The inspector general said the fair paid Kuhl $35,000 during that time.
The Latorra, Paul and McCann Advertising Agency designed and produced invitations for the state fair’s holiday parties. The parties were lavish affairs, the report said. As many as 800 people would celebrate with a three-hour open bar, hors d’oeuvres and meat and pasta stations. Cappuccilli said the parties did not cost a penny, the report said.
The invitations alone cost about $1,200 a year and were paid for by taxpayers, the report said.
Clear Channel is involved because Cappuccilli canceled an event hosted by the radio station so that his daughter’s wedding, on the fairgrounds, would be quiet, the report says. The fair lost $17,000 in revenue when Cappuccilli canceled the annual B-Jam concert, which would have brought 8,000 people to the Chevy Court to hear music, the report said.
The inspector general, a governor appointee whose job it is to investigate state employees, started looking into the state fair because an internal audit found that staff had been giving away too many concert tickets. Investigators found the fair staff was giving away thousands of free tickets as perks to employees, friends and state police. Over eight years, state police received about $200,000 in free tickets. Employees were given about $240,000 free tickets and were also given free parking passes and free admission to the fair for their family members.
The report alleges former fair marketing director Joe LaGuardia misused tickets that were supposed to go to concert reviewers from the media. They had a face value of $30 to $50 and cost the fair a total of $280,000 between 2001 and 2007. LaGuardia declined comment.
Cuomo said the state fair has long been plagued by allegations that it has become a patronage playground for friends, relatives and cronies of the fair’s directors and managers.
“The fair is a source of pride for all New Yorkers and we must protect it. Our actions are aimed at ending systemic problems that have created a culture of patronage and cronyism at the expense of taxpayers,” Cuomo said in a press release.
Cuomo made no specific mention of O’Hara in his announcement Tuesday. Cuomo’s staff said, however, that everything at the fair is open to investigation.
The Inspector General’s report took O’Hara and Department of Agriculture & Markets officials to task for two no-bid contracts. One was a $700,000 contract with the concert promoter Live Nation and the other a $127,000 Classic Entertainment and Sports, Inc. for a boxing match. The boxing match was a financial failure, costing the state about $126,000. It drew only 962 fans to the 17,000-seat Grandstand.
Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker said the fair and the Department of Agriculture and Markets intends to cooperate with Cuomo’s office.
Hooker said he and O’Hara have taken actions to eliminate cronyism and waste at the fair. The fair no longer provides free concert tickets to employees or state police. There is also a new policy against hiring relatives of fair employees.
Contact Michelle Breidenbach at mbreidenbach@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3186.