ALBANY – A representative of Gov. Paterson’s office improperly contacted the state Liquor Authority in the middle of its meeting about whether to renew booze licenses for the Cipriani family, according to a report by the state inspector general.
The inspector general recommended that the staffer – a deputy to Carl Andrews, a key Paterson aide who abruptly resigned in December – be fired for giving contradictory statements under oath about his conduct related to the SLA’s controversial vote renewing the liquor licenses.
Inspector General Joseph Fisch made a much anticipated report on allegations that political interference by Andrews was responsible for the SLA’s vote. The report, obtained by The Post, found that Andrews’ deputy Khari Edwards “improperly contacted” SLA Commissioner Jeanique Greene in the midst of the board meeting.
The report says Edwards, a $70,000-a-year “citizens services representative,” did not “testify truthfully” under oath to the inspector’s investigators about his contacts with Greene.
As a result, the inspector general “finds that Edwards is ill-suited to serve as a representative of the governor’s office, and recommends that his employment be terminated,” the report said.
The investigation was prompted by The Post’s November report that SLA Chairman Daniel Boyle claimed Andrews had tried to “intimidate” him into renewing the Cipriani licenses for such famed establishments as the Rainbow Room despite guilty pleas by two family members to income-tax evasion that resulted in a $10 million fine.
The truth of Boyle’s allegation against Andrews could not be determined, the report said.
Boyle, an appointee of Republican former Gov. George Pataki, claimed Andrews pressured him during a private meeting before the authority’s 2-1 vote in August to renew the licenses, which Boyle opposed and two Democratic appointees supported.
Andrews, the governor’s $171,000-a-year special assistant until Dec. 31, told investigators that he never sought to influence Boyle, and had made an inquiry about the Cipriani situation “just passing in conversation.”
The report said investigators were unable to determine the reason Edwards contacted Greene in the middle of the SLA’s meeting.
But Greene told the inspector general that she was “furious to have received such a call and, once she learned the call related to the Ciprianis, she knew it was inappropriate.”
While investigators “found no evidence” Edwards made the call at Andrews’ direction, the report noted that Edwards’ “changing and implausible testimony, all of which was fully investigated, . . . renders him incredible as a witness.”
The report blasts Edwards – who at one point claimed he was calling merely on behalf of a “constituent’s daughter” who planned a wedding at a Cipriani establishment – as “immature and irresponsible.” It said “statements he provided during virtually each interview were subsequently corrected or repudiated by Edwards himself as inaccurate, misleading or mistaken.”