Assemblyman Brodsky Criticizes ESDC, Pataki Administration

New York, NY —

The Pataki administration's top economic development agency is being criticized by for doing a poor job of overseeing independent authorities.

REPORTER: At hearings yesterday, employees of the Empire State Development Corporation admitted the agency is running with a multi-million dollar deficit. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky says the ESDC has failed to go after corporations that get financing from the agency, but don't create the number of jobs promised.

BRODSKY: And they haven't created jobs, they have spent huge amounts of money on corporate welfare. They have not performed well and they have used as political tools by the Governor, as cash cows and patronage mills.

REPORTER: The ESDC defended its record, noting that many of the businesses in question were already facing difficult economic realities. And ESDC chairman Charles Gargano says his agency was pivotal in New York's rebound after 9/11.