Around the same time the Republican leader of the state Senate, Joseph Bruno, was investing his money and his campaign funds in Plug Power, a venture firm run by the fuel cell manufacturer's chairman received tens of millions of dollars in state pension fund money through a program spearheaded by Mr. Bruno.
In August 2000, a little-known investment program administered by the state comptroller's office agreed to invest $50 million in FA Technology Ventures, a fledgling venture firm spun off of First Albany Companies, an investment-banking boutique that specializes in municipal bond trades.
The funding from the state represented almost half of the money that Albany-based FA Technology Ventures had raised on its own in a market dominated by New York City firms.
The managing partner of FA Technology Ventures, George McNamee, is chairman of Plug Power, a startup fuel-cell manufacturer based in Latham, N.Y., that sold more than $100,000 of stock to Mr. Bruno and his re-election campaign committee in the same year. Mr. Bruno was one of perhaps a tiny handful of politicians in Albany who has invested campaign money in an individual stock.
...
Mr. McNamee is a major player in the capital district's high-tech region who serves as a director of several members of FA's investments portfolio, including Plug Power and Autotask, a privately held software company that last year received a $195,000 capital grant for new office space. The grant was sponsored by Mr. Bruno.
While no one is accusing Mr. Bruno of directing the comptroller's office to make that investment, the timing of the stock buy and the flow of money to Mr. McNamee's venture firm raises questions about the majority leader's influence over the pension fund program, which was created to give upstate New York a boost in the venture capital market.
And last, but certainly not least, let me just say that while I generally detest the New York Post, I often find myself wanting to buy a drink for whoever is writing headlines over there.
