Vote-machine bonanza

Lobby firms paid $1.5M by vendors

BY FRANK LOMBARDI

DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Lobbyists raked in nearly $1.5 million in fees in recent years from vendors hoping to cash in on the still-stalled modernization of voting machines throughout the state.

New York City, with 7,694 machines to replace, will be the state's biggest customer for new voting machines.

Based on a federal deadline, city voters are supposed to get a limited exposure to new machines this fall, but that timetable remains in doubt. Critics blame years of bureaucratic and political gridlock in Albany.

But that gridlock apparently has been golden for lobbyists, according to a report by Common Cause/NY, a watchdog group.

Voting machine vendors spent $468,346 last year alone, just shy of the $491,713 they spent in 2004. Lobbying fees totaled $1,469,402 over the past four years.

"When we see voting machine vendors spending almost a million and a half dollars to lobby in our state over the past few years, we have to wonder whether this spending impacted the Legislature's decision to avoid selecting a voting machine themselves by punting the question down to the State Board [of Elections] and localities," said Rachel Leon, executive director of Common Cause.

Most of the lobbying has been directed at Albany legislators and election officials. The state board is preparing final regulations that will determine what machines will be certified in the state. Local boards will then select which machines to buy.

John Ravitz, the executive director of the city's Board of Elections, said that although some lobbyists have contacted his agency, "nobody has gotten any special privileges."

He said the city board intends "to be as transparent as possible" in the procedures used to select its vendor.

Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. leads its rivals in lobbying spending in New York State, with $523,822 since 2002, according to Common Cause.

Its nearest spending rival is Election Systems & Software, which spent $299,133.

Sequoia paid fees to five lobbying firms, including Patricia Lynch Associates, which received $67,842 last year. Lynch is a former aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).

Sequoia also paid a combined $180,000 in 2003 and 2004 to Buley Public Affairs LLC., a firm that includes Jeffrey Buley, former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer) and Albert Pirro, the husband of former Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Election Systems & Software paid virtually all of its money to Davidoff Malito & Hutcher, a law firm that includes Sid Davidoff, a former aide to Mayor John Lindsay and a longtime top city lobbyist.

Yet another vendor, Danaher Controls Inc., paid $162,500 in lobbying fees to the Parkside Group, which has close ties to ranking Queens Democrats. One of its principals is Evan Stavisky, son of Queens state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Flushing).

Originally published on January 30, 2006

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