ALBANY – An upstate state senator and his predecessor were arraigned Thursday on charges that they funneled campaign cash to one senator’s wife and to a former staffer and hid the payments by filing false paperwork at the Board of Elections.
Both Sen. Robert Ortt and his predecessor, George Maziarz, pleaded not guilty to the felony charges in Albany County court on Thursday.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman accused Maziarz of paying $95,000 to a staffer who had resigned amid accusations of sexual harassment and hiding the payments by funneling them through a contractor and subcontractor.
Schneiderman accused Ortt of a similar scheme which allegedly netted his wife $21,500 through a no-show job.
“No-show jobs and secret payments are the lifeblood of public corruption,” Schneiderman said.
“New Yorkers deserve full and honest disclosures by their elected officials—not the graft and shadowy payments uncovered by our investigation. These allegations represent a shameful breach of the public trust – and we will hold those responsible to account.”
Schneiderman claims that the payments to Ortt’s wife were arranged by the Niagara County Republican Committee to make up for a $5,000-a-year pay cut that Ortt took when he was mayor of North Tonowanda, which is located between Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
The former chair of the NCRC, Henry Wojtaszek, pleaded guilty in Albany City Court on Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of violating state election law in connection to the probe.
He still serves as president of the Western Region Off-Track Betting Corporation of New York.
Ortt was charged with three felony counts of filing a false instrument. Each count carries a prison sentence of 16 months to four years. Maziarz faces five felony charges of filing a false instrument.
The alleged crimes occurred from 2010 to 2014, before Ortt became a senator. The charges come as state lawmakers approach an April 1 deadline to pass the budget.
Ortt said he will not step down and still plans to vote on the spending bills.
If he is convicted, the GOP’s control over the Senate could be threatened since it currently has a one-vote majority.
The defendants’ lawyers claim that Schneiderman is politically motivated.