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Former NARAL Pro-Choice NY
President Under Investigation Part Three of Three By Dave Andrusko An official of Naral Pro-Choice New York has confirmed that it is auditing expenses and reimbursements of Kelli Conlin after "potential improprieties" came to light, the New York Times has reported. Furthermore, "The Manhattan district attorney's office is investigating whether the former longtime president of New York's leading abortion-rights group abused her expense account, two people briefed on the inquiry said Wednesday," according to David W. Chen and john Eligon of the Times. News that Conlin, who abruptly left last month after serving as President of Naral Pro-Choice New York for nearly two decades, was being investigated first surfaced Tuesday when the political blog State of Politics reported that it had obtained a draft audit of Conlin's expenses, conducted by the accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron. When Conlin stepped own in late January, it was said only that she was "departing." CBS 6albany.com reported that she was, in fact, fired. CBS 6albany.com also reported that "An early draft of the audit shows that Kelli Conlin spent $100,000 on a car service, $22,000 on meals, $17,000 on a summer rental in the Hamptons, and $5,700 on clothing from 2008-2010, according to a report aired by YNN's Capitol Tonight." Conlin has been a powerful player in state Democratic politics for a very long time. The New York Post reported that "Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office regulates charities, received the abortion-rights group's potent endorsement during last year's contentious Democratic attorney general primary." Scheiderman's father, Irwin, serves on the NARAL board. An aide announced that the Attorney General would recuse himself, adding "Out of an abundance of caution and to avoid even an appearance of conflict, an independent counsel will be designated to oversee any potential investigation or agency action in this matter." Lorna Brett Howard, chairwoman of the Naral board, and Cathrine Steck, chairwoman of a related group, the National Institute for Reproductive Health, issued a statement: "No conclusions have been reached based on the information gathered thus far, and there has been no determination as to whether there was any wrongdoing that would require the notification of the legal or regulatory authorities." Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |