Suffolk Democrats benefited from PSEG campaign donations to super PAC

A political action committee funded by various PSEG entities, including PSEG Long Island and "PSEG LI Management Company," has contributed since 2014 more than $30,000 to the Suffolk County Democratic Committee, whose former counsel and one-time vice chairman was recently appointed to the LIPA board.

A Newsday analysis of dozens of PSEG political contributions going back to 2000 shows various PSEG entities have contributed more than $165,000 to state races and political causes since that time.

Most of PSEG's total company-listed donations, or about $105,768 of the $165,673 total, came after December 2011, when LIPA announced it had chosen PSEG to replace National Grid to operate the Long Island electric system. 

The largest portion of money paid by PSEG entities into state campaigns, or just over $65,000, was funneled into a super political action committee known as Power Long Island, state records show. Payments of $1,000 and $5,000 regularly went to Power Long Island starting in 2014, when PSEG began managing the grid, through 2024.

About $30,000 of the money that went into the super PAC came from a PSEG entity known as "PSEG LI Management Company," according to state databases. That entity is the same name of the PSEG unit that runs the Long Island electric grid. (PSEG entities also contributed $52,705 to the Independent Power Producers of NY's political action committee, the records show, starting in 2000.)

The Friends of Kathy Hochul, the governor’s campaign fund, in 2022 received $5,000 from Power Long Island, the super PAC’s single largest donation. Hochul appoints five of LIPA's nine board members, including the chair. Four of six LIPA board members who recently voted to cancel a LIPA bid request for a new service provider and instead extend PSEG’s contract were Hochul appointees.

Neither LIPA nor PSEG would answer any of Newsday's questions on the campaign donations, including how they can be sure money paid by PSEG for political donations or time spent by internal staff or contractors to lobby lawmakers is not somehow charged to ratepayers.

LIPA each year pays the PSEG management company about $80 million to manage the grid, allowing PSEG to employ an executive team to direct system maintenance and repairs, tree trimming, billing and power systems. That work is done by a separate LIPA entity known as Servco, which owns the trucks and equipment to operate the grid, along with employing about 2,000 unionized employees, whom PSEG manages. 

In April, six LIPA trustees voted to reject a recommendation of LIPA officials after a yearlong review to award LIPA’s major operating contract to Quanta Services of Houston. Canceling the contract means that LIPA would go forward with PSEG, negotiating an extension of the company’s existing contract, which expires at year's end. 

The largest single beneficiary of money into the Power Long Island super PAC has been the Suffolk County Democratic Committee, which helps to fund Democratic candidates in Suffolk races and also contributes to the state Democratic Committee. Newsday’s analysis found donations of up to $3,000 each in 20 separate payments made since 2015 by Power Long Island to the Suffolk Democratic committee, most recently $1,250 on Dec. 30, 2024.

No one is saying that PSEG’s campaign donations are outsized or improper. Rather, some question whether a contractor to a public authority should be politically active in making donations and lobbying in a way that may not benefit the utility.

"I think there’s an inherent conflict in the structure" of LIPA whereby an investor-owned utility operates a public authority, said Fred Thiele, the former state assemblyman who sought to convert LIPA to a fully public utility. The effort failed last year in part, he says, under the weight of PSEG lobbying.

"You can’t serve two masters and be out there advocating for shareholders and ratepayers at the same time," Thiele said. The two are "often in conflict. You can try to rein in some of the abuses that occur. It’s just inherently conflicted."

In April, Anthony LaPinta, a criminal defense attorney from Hauppauge and one-time second vice chairman of the Suffolk Democratic committee, was named the newest member of the LIPA board. He replaced Drew Biondo, a trustee who resigned in March after he said he had heard LaPinta was being vetted as his replacement.

Biondo has been outspoken about political influences in LIPA affairs, and has specifically questioned PSEG’s lobbying efforts. (He was on LIPA's board in 2022 when it passed a resolution requiring that PSEG "immediately cease and desist all lobbying and advocacy activities" concerning selling off LIPA, and provide "prior written notice of all lobbying and advocacy positions." LIPA at the time said PSEG did not comply with the resolution.)

In an interview, Biondo said he was recently contacted by the state inspector general as part of an ongoing investigation of the utility.

LaPinta until last week was listed as counsel to the Suffolk County Democratic Committee on the organization’s website. His name was removed the day after Newsday requested comment from LIPA and LaPinta about his role there.

"I've always been committed to achieving the highest standards of professionalism and ethics, and I will continue to do so moving forward," LaPinta said in an email.

Richard Schaffer, chairman of the county Democratic committee, in a separate email, sent a copy of LaPinta’s resignation from the committee, effective April 26. LaPinta’s letter to Schaffer thanked the chairman for his "many years of trust and confidence in me."

LIPA’s internal rules state that no trustee or employee in any policymaking position at LIPA "shall serve as an officer of any political party or political organization, or as members of any political party committee."

Biondo, an assistant deputy commissioner for the Suffolk County Police Department, in his resignation letter to LIPA in March took issue with what he called PSEG’s "undue influence" in lobbying against matters such as state legislation that would have transitioned LIPA to a fully public utility.

PSEG in the past has said its work against the public LIPA measure was in the best interests of ratepayers because the current model works best. PSEG has said it is the "Number One overhead electric service provider in New York State in both reliability and customer satisfaction," although recent metrics provided by PSEG and LIPA show it missed critical measures of reliability, worker safety and customer satisfaction.

At a recent LIPA board meeting, PSEG for 2025 was reported to be meeting 64% of performance metrics while 14% were at risk, despite LIPA’s efforts to reduce the number of metrics at risk. In customer satisfaction, PSEG had moved to 12th place, from 10th for all of 2024, against a goal of being in the top 25% of 18 large Eastern utilities. The company still has the bulk of 2025 to meet the metrics, and David Lyons, interim PSEG-LI president and chief operating officer, said the company expected improvements.

The fact that LaPinta was an officer of the Democratic committee during periods when it received donations from Power Long Island may raise different questions. LaPinta, during the April 26 meeting to vote on a new contractor to operate the grid, abstained from the vote without explanation. LIPA and LaPinta declined to respond to questions about his vote. In the recent board move to cancel the entire request-for-proposals process, LaPinta again abstained, citing his newness to the board.

One legal expert said LaPinta did the right thing by abstaining, but questioned the larger issue of board appointments.

"My question is what is a criminal defense attorney and an activist in the Democratic Party doing on the LIPA board?" said Paul Sabatino II, former counsel to the Suffolk County Legislature. "I’m not saying there’s a statutory violation. It’s a qualification issue. What criteria are they applying for members on the board?" LaPinta’s "would not seem to fit my criteria for member of the LIPA board," he said. "It raises a serious question as to what’s the criteria for all board members."

Members must be LIPA customers with relevant experience to serve on the board, but few have had direct utility experience. Vanessa Baird-Streeter, a Hochul appointee, was a former LIPA communications director and one-time chief deputy to former Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. David Manning, another Hochul appointee, formerly worked for National Grid. (He voted in favor of awarding the LIPA contract to Quanta; he abstained from the vote to cancel the process, without explanation.)

The address for Power Long Island is chiefly listed as a Garden City post office box, but donations it has made to State Sen. Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood), totaling $5,000, come from a Ronkonkoma address that is the headquarters of solar installer, Long Island Power Solutions. Martinez, like PSEG, opposed the plan by Thiele to transition LIPA to a fully public utility.

Martinez in 2023 was the single "no" vote when the state committee on LIPA released its final report recommending a plan for LIPA to become a fully public utility. She denied that her vote was in any way tied to the utility super PAC's donations to her campaign.

Joe Milillo, chief executive of Long Island Power Solutions, said neither he nor his company was aware of or made any donation to Martinez.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.