Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2004 | 11:23 a.m.
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he will testify privately today before the state Lobbying Commission, which is investigating whether Caesars Entertainment Inc. violated gift limits while hosting New York officials.
Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, has already responded to subpoenas by providing the Lobbying Commission with receipts and other documentation of a visit he made nearly three years ago to Las Vegas. During that trip, he was billed $109 for a suite at Caesars Entertainment's Paris-Las Vegas that is advertised as renting for as much as $1,500 a night.
Through his counsel William Collins, Silver said Monday that he would give a deposition behind closed doors to the commission. Commission Executive Director David Grandeau had said he would seek to have Silver give testimony at a proceeding that was open to the public and reporters.
Collins said in a letter to the Lobbying Commission that the giving of public testimony by Silver, the first time the commission has taken a deposition in that manner, would be "simply inappropriate."
"We don't want to turn this into a circus," Silver spokesman Charles Carrier said Monday. "Clearly, this (a closed-door deposition) is a procedure that has been employed by the commission in all previous hearings."
Grandeau said the commission and its counsels would consult about Silver's intention to keep the proceedings private.
"I am going to try and find out what the commissioners want to do here," Grandeau said.
Records supplied by Silver in July also showed that a $50 tip was paid to a caterer for having "dinner flown in" for the Assembly speaker and his guest. The records did not indicate the cost of the meal or who provided the tip, which Silver said he did not pay.
Silver said the trip was made in the post-Sept. 11 period when Las Vegas and other tourist destinations were discounting travel costs and hotel rooms to generate business.
Caesars Entertainment spokesman Robert Stewart said at least half of the other guests staying in the suites were paying less than Silver paid for the same room while others paid more. Silver is believed to have stayed at the resort "for personal reasons," Stewart said.
Caesars Entertainment has been seeking to become a partner in an Indian-sponsored casino in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The casino, closer to New York City than casinos in Atlantic City or Connecticut, is considered a big potential moneymaker for its owners.
But Stewart said the New York Legislature had approved a bill months before Silver's visit authorizing several tribal casinos in the state and that "nothing was before the Legislature" during his stay at Paris-Las Vegas.
Caesars Entertainment is refusing to cooperate with the Lobbying Commission's investigation of its hosting of New York officials. Under state rules, officials cannot receive gifts or other considerations worth more than $75, if the gifts are designed to curry favor with the official receiving them.
Caesars' New York attorney has advised the company that the commission's request -- including a request for information on whether any New York legislator had stayed at any Caesars property over a period of time -- is "inappropriately broad," Stewart said. The company is also concerned about the privacy of its customers, he said.
The company's attorney "has offered to explain his position but (the commission) has not taken him up on that offer," he said.
archive
