A media contact for Governor Cuomo also said they would have no comment.
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The requests for proposals for the Buffalo Billion contracts were officially handled by SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s predecessor, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.
SUNY Polytechnic hired an outside law firm as special counsel with a $1.5 million contract that started in July and continues through January, New York’s comptroller confirmed.
The major investment from the Buffalo Billion is in the high-tech hub at RiverBend, where SolarCity, the centerpiece of the governor’s investment plan, is under construction.
A call to Kaloyeros wasn’t returned Friday.
During a question-and-answer with the Business Council audience, Pete Bardunias of the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County asked Cuomo about the continued cleanup of PCBs from the Hudson and the state Canal system.
SUNY Polytechnic Institute, which is headed by the politically-connected Dr. Alain Kaloyeros, received subpoenas seeking documents and other information in recent months, sources familiar with the probe said. “We are confident that all processes regarding SUNY Poly projects in Buffalo were done appropriately”.
Cuomo said he “totally” has confidence in Kaloyeros, the founder and head of SUNY’s nanotechnology school and center, who is overseeing the creation of one of the projects in Buffalo, as well as some state economic development efforts in Albany and the Utica area.
Money for the Buffalo Billion flows through a non-profit entity called Fort Schuyler Management Corp., which was created by SUNY Poly to manage the school’s various development projects across upstate.
“You have to remember, I was the former attorney general”. A spokesman for SUNY Polytechnic Institute did not return emails for comment.
The article cites reporting by the nonprofit Investigative Post that revealed developer Louis Ciminelli who contributed more than 96 thousand dollars to both of Governor Cuomo’s campaigns was awarded contracts for two buildings under the project.
CEO Anthony Ciminelli, his family and businesses have donated $139,000 to Cuomo’s political campaign, according to the government watchdog group Reinvent Albany. The companies are LPCiminelli and McGuire Development Co.
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The RFPs were later changed to only require 15 years experience.
