ALBANY – Two trips Gov. Pataki took to Hungary at the expense of private groups raise “ethical concerns,” but were not illegal, the state Ethics Commission ruled yesterday.
The governor came under fire when he, family members and aides visited his ancestral home in Hungary in 1995 and 1996. The trips were paid for by the Hungarian-American Chamber of Commerce of New York and New Jersey.
The organization had received donations from four companies with business before the state, including Philip Morris, Pfizer and PepsiCo.
The governor and his aides insisted they didn’t know who donated to the chamber, which had been approached by close Pataki adviser Charles Gargano about sponsoring the trip.
The commission said the administration asked if it needed to inquire about the chamber’s membership before accepting the trips but, because it had no business directly before the state, Richard Rifkin, the commission’s executive director at the time, ruled that such an inquiry wasn’t necessary.
Donald Berens Jr., the current executive director, said that when a company doing business with the state is asked to donate money specifically for a governor’s trips, “the potential for improper influence is heightened.”
But he said there is no evidence the companies paying for Pataki’s trips got special treatment or access to Pataki.