ALBANY — Assemblyman Keith Wright is furious at Speaker Sheldon Silver for dragging him into a controversy — now the subject of an investigation — over tax breaks quietly awarded to five city developers.
Wright, chairman of the Assembly Housing Committee, was the prime sponsor of the bill that passed in January. The Manhattan Democrat inherited the bill after he replaced previous committee chairman Vito Lopez, who was removed by Silver last August amid a sexual harassment scandal that ultimately ended Lopez’s Assembly career.
When Silver gave Wright the bill, “it was presented as a routine legislative matter,” a source briefed on the situation said. “Now there’s a whole investigation around it.”
“He’s livid he was put in this position,” the source said. “He has conveyed his fury directly to the speaker for creating this situation.”
Wright, he insisted, “never got a penny from any of the five real estate folks.” The Daily News has reported that the Silver-controlled Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee, Gov. Cuomo and others received donations from developers who benefited.
“They say it’s pay-to-play, but you can’t play if you don’t get paid,” the source said. “Keith’s attitude is given the situation Shelly created, Shelly should have put his own name on the bill.”
Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission has subpoenaed the five companies that stand to benefit from the tax breaks. Wright has not been contacted by investigators, the insider said.
“He had no knowledge of the details of the bill,” he said. “He was instructed by the man who runs the Assembly.”
Wright did not return a call. A Silver spokesman had no comment.
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The $175,000-a-year executive director of Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission is raising eyebrows by using her state title to help promote her new book about overcoming a childhood of abuse.
The first sentence in Regina Calcaterra’s bio on her website references her appointment by Cuomo last month to the anti-corruption commission. A video trailer she cut for the book has a graphic showing her state title and who appointed her. Her state position has also been used in news articles about the memoir, “Etched in Sand.”
“If you want to promote a book, all well and good, but you should separate yourself from the governor,” said one former executive chamber staffer. “If someone wants to start their own business or write a book, you wish them well with their future endeavors, but they can’t do both.”
A source said Calcaterra wrote the bulk of the book before she joined the state late last year.
Calcaterra sought approval from the state ethics commission to market the book and was told in a letter dated Aug. 5 she could do so as long as no state resources were utilized and she didn’t do the marketing while performing her state duties. Calcaterra has followed the rules and has logged vacation or personal time “when appropriate” when promoting the book, the source said.
